Department for Transport

Railways: North of England

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government's commitment to Northern Powerhouse Rail includes the new line from Liverpool to Manchester via Central Warrington.

Huw Merriman: As outlined in the Integrated Rail Plan last November, Northern Powerhouse Rail will include a 40-mile section of new high-speed line between Warrington and West Yorkshire via Manchester International Airport and Manchester Piccadilly, and upgrades between Warrington and Liverpool.

Railways: North of England

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government's commitment to build Northern Powerhouse Rail includes infrastructure upgrades to the Sheffield to Hull line via Doncaster.

Huw Merriman: As set out in the Integrated Rail Plan’s adaptive approach to investment, electrification of the line from Sheffield to Hull via Doncaster could be considered in the future subject to the deliverability and affordability of the core IRP pipeline.

Selby-Hull Railway Line: Electrification

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to electrify the line from Selby to Hull.

Huw Merriman: The Government is committed to delivering a net zero rail network by 2050, in line with the Transport Decarbonisation Plan. To do so, Government will electrify additional lines and deploy battery and hydrogen trains on lines where it makes economic and operational sense. As set out in the Integrated Rail Plan’s adaptive approach to investment, electrification of the line from Selby to the Hull could be considered in the future subject to the deliverability and affordability of the core IRP pipeline.

Railways: Industrial Disputes

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions (a) he and (b) his Department has had with representatives of rail unions on the rail dispute since his appointment.

Huw Merriman: Whilst the Government is not the employer in the disputes, there is clearly an important role for the Government in working with all concerned to encourage a resolution. I have made it clear that I am happy to meet with trade unions and meetings are currently in the process of being organised, although any resolution will require the employers and the trade unions to reach a negotiated agreement.

High Speed 2 Line: Leeds

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of when the report of the Leeds Area Study will be published.

Huw Merriman: We intend to publish the terms of reference for the HS2 to Leeds Study shortly.

Bus Services: Visual Impairment

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that bus stops are accessible and safe for blind and visually impaired people.

Mr Richard Holden: The Inclusive Transport Strategy committed the Department to take steps to improve the accessibility of bus stations and stops. The Department is commissioning research to help us to understand the impact of bus station and stop design on disabled people and other users. This will inform future work on a accessible design standard and local council toolkit to improve the accessibility of bus stations and stops.The Inclusive Transport Strategy committed the Department to take steps to improve the accessibility of bus stations and stops. The Department is commissioning research to help us to understand the impact of bus station and stop design on disabled people and other users. This will inform future work on a potential accessible design standard and local authority toolkit to improve the accessibility of bus stations and stops.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Environment Protection: Employment

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is taking steps to increase the number of green jobs in Sefton Central constituency.

Graham Stuart: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Environment Protection: Employment

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people in Sefton Central are employed in a green job.

Graham Stuart: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Energy: Conservation

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, What steps his Department is taking to increase energy efficiency measure installations in homes in Sefton Central constituency.

Graham Stuart: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Business: Cost of Living

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with businesses in Sefton Central constituency on the potential impact of the cost of living crisis on those businesses.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Energy: Fees and Charges

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether energy suppliers receive a fee for administering the Government's energy support measures.

Graham Stuart: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Bulb Energy

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November to Question 83507on Bulb Energy, whether his Department knew how much money had been drawn down under the funding agreement by Bulb Energy when a deal was agreed with Octopus Energy on the sale of Bulb.

Graham Stuart: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Small Businesses: Cost of Living

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many SMEs in Sefton Central constituency have received Government funding for support during the cost of living crisis.

Kevin Hollinrake: Businesses in Sefton Central will have benefitted from the Government’s reversal of the National Insurance rise, which will save SMEs approximately £4,200 on average, cut fuel duty for 12 months and brought in the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, to protect small businesses from high energy costs over the winter. In addition, the Recovery Loan Scheme is available to SMEs across the UK. The Government is also providing financial support for business through the Start Up loan scheme - 160 SMEs in Sefton Central have received loans to the value of £1,688,512 as of October 2022.

New Businesses: Ethnic Groups

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s report entitled Ethnic Diversity in Business: Removing barriers impeding business success, published on 12 May 2022, what assessment he has made of the report’s finding that entrepreneurs from ethnic minority backgrounds are held back by stereotyping and outdated perceptions; and if he will make a statement.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government is aware of the challenges faced by ethnic minority businesses and is taking action to support them. The British Business Bank’s Alone Together report (2020) found access to finance is a major barrier for ethnic minority entrepreneurs. We are working with stakeholders to agree interventions to improve access to finance. Since its launch (2012) the Start Up Loans programme has issued around 20% of its loans to Black, Asian, and Ethnic-minority business. The Government are also delivering actions set out in the Inclusive Britain report (2022), which aim to support ethnic minority entrepreneurs. Ministers regularly engage with ethnic minority business leaders and networks to better understand the issues facing them.

Energy Price Guarantee

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the cost to the public purse of the Energy Price Guarantee is not increased by the profit margins of energy providers.

Graham Stuart: The Energy Price Guarantee discount is set by the Government. The costs of the scheme are linked to changes in energy wholesale prices, as reflected in the Ofgem price cap, and the volume of energy consumed by households. Exchequer funding provided to the energy suppliers under the Energy Price Guarantee is directly equivalent to the savings made by domestic consumers in their gas and electricity bills. The Government does not pay any premium to energy suppliers. HM Treasury will conduct a review to consider how to support households with their energy bills from April 2023.

Housing: Fuel Oil and Liquefied Petroleum Gas

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of domestic properties using (a) oil and (b) liquefied petroleum gas for heating by parliamentary constituency.

Graham Stuart: Survey data only exists at a national level for the number of properties that use oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for heating. CountryOil for heatingLPG for heatingEngland1762,000 dwellings (3.2 per cent)159,000 households (0.7 per cent)Scotland2129,000 households (5 per cent)18,000 households (1 per cent)Wales3135,000 dwellings (10 per cent)Not availableNorthern Ireland4526,000 dwellings (67.5 per cent)Not available 1 English Housing Survey, 2020 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/energy-performance)2 Scottish House Condition Survey, 2019 (https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-house-condition-survey-2019-key-findings/pages/4/)3 Welsh Housing Conditions Survey, 2017/18 (https://gov.wales/welsh-housing-conditions-survey-energy-efficiency-dwellings-april-2017-march-2018)4 Northern Ireland House Condition Survey, 2016 (https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-housing-statistics-2020-21) The 2011 Census includes estimates that classify occupied household spaces in England and Wales by the types of central heating present, including oil central heating, for 2010 parliamentary constituencies (https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/qs415uk)

Natural Gas: Imports

Lee Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps his Department has taken to help ensure that the UK's supply of natural gas will not be further affected by the war in Ukraine.

Graham Stuart: The UK has a secure and diverse energy system. The Government is confident in its plan to protect households and businesses in the full range of scenarios this winter, in light of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine. The Government has taken steps to bolster supply and is working closely with Ofgem and National Grid to strengthen its position further. Earlier this year Equinor and Centrica signed an agreement to strengthen the UK's gas supply over the next 3 winters. This will add up to 1 billion cubic metres of gas per year to UK supply – enough to provide for the annual needs of two million homes.

Renewable Energy: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues and the Northern Ireland Executive to help ensure that the proportion of energy generated from renewable sources is reflected in the energy prices charged to energy consumers in Northern Ireland; and what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the level of renewable energy generation.

Graham Stuart: The Northern Ireland Renewables Obligation is the principal renewable energy scheme in Northern Ireland, supporting renewable electricity generation. Usually paid for by consumers via their electricity bills, the levy costs are currently further reduced under the UK Government’s energy bill support measures. The Government continues to work with Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy officials to identify a suitable pathway for a Northern Ireland Contracts for Difference scheme to bring more renewable generation online.

Home Energy and Lifestyle Management: Green Deal Scheme

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will provide a breakdown of the number of Green Deal Loans put in place by the company HELMS by constituency to which those loans applied.

Graham Stuart: The number of Green Deal plans provided by Home Energy & Lifestyle Management Ltd (HELMS) in each constituency in the UK is shown in the attached table. To manage the risk of revealing personal or commercial data, the Government approach is not to release non-zero counts of fewer than five for a small geographic area.Green Deal plans provided by HELMS (xlsx, 17.2KB)

Employment: Fertility

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) workplace rights and (b) support for people undergoing fertility treatment.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government regularly considers whether the employment rights framework remains fit for purpose. Legislation is not the only way take employment issues forward. We were pleased to note the launch of the “Fertility Workplace Pledge” and encourage employers to sign up.

Renewable Energy: Smart Export Guarantee

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the average rate payable under the Smart Export Guarantee for renewable energy generated by households was in the latest period for which data is available; and if he will make an assessment of adequacy of the responsiveness of rates available under the Smart Export Guarantee to market conditions.

Graham Stuart: Ofgem’s second annual report for 2021/22 found that 12 suppliers offered 36 different tariffs, including offerings of over 5p per kilowatt hour (which is in some cases higher than the FIT export tariff) and above the 3p per kilowatt hour average electricity wholesale price for 2020. The Government continues to monitor whether the market is delivering an effective range of options for small exporters.

Wind Power: Planning Permission

Alicia Kearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to make it easier to secure planning permission for new onshore wind turbines.

Graham Stuart: The Government understands the strength of feeling that some people have about the impact of wind turbines in England. The Government is considering all options for increasing deployment in ways which are supported by local communities.

Fuels: Prices

Amy Callaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has taken steps to establish an online fuel comparison tool.

Graham Stuart: The Competition and Markets Authority’s Road Fuel Review published on 8 July, recommended the Government considers an open data scheme to improve consumers’ access to fuel prices. In response, the Government committed to further work and analysis to assess the feasibility of this recommendation. This includes implementation timescales, legislative vehicles, and its efficacy in delivering fuel price transparency. The Government will gather evidence of existing schemes in other countries to understand how they work and their impact to date on consumer behaviour and fuel pricing. It will aim to conclude its assessment by Spring 2023.

Oil: Shetland

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the compatibility of Equinor developing the Rosebank oil field with the decarbonisation targets for industry as described in the North Sea Transition Deal.

Graham Stuart: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Norwich South on 1st November 2022 to Question 69713.

Offshore Structures: Decommissioning

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had recent discussions with the North Sea Transition Authority on local content in decommissioning projects in the offshore oil and gas industry.

Graham Stuart: No recent discussions have been held with the North Sea Transition Authority on local content in decommissioning projects in the offshore oil and gas industry.

Energy Supply

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will have discussions with the Leader of the House on bringing the Energy Security Bill to the House of Commons.

Graham Stuart: The Government remains committed to the important measures in the Energy Security Bill and expects to set out how it will proceed shortly.

Certification Quality Marks

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department has spent on (a) staff activity, (b) external research and advice, (c) public consultation and (d) stakeholder engagement related to the replacement of the CE product marking system with the new UKCA product marking system since the start of the 2020-21 financial year.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Department has spent around £2.6 million on the transition to the UKCA marking since the start of the 2020/21 financial year. The Government have prioritised extensive engagement with industry both in the UK and overseas and Conformity Assessment Bodies to understand the implementation challenges. This has enabled the Government to make transitioning to the UKCA marking as easy as possible for businesses, including providing them with more time to comply.

Offshore Industry: Labour Mobility

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress he has made on the development of the Offshore Energy Passport as set out in the Offshore Wind Sector Deal in March 2019.

Graham Stuart: The Offshore Wind Industry Council committed to explore qualification passporting between different offshore sectors, as part of the Offshore Wind Sector Deal. In March 2022, a significant agreement was reached between the three organisations that oversee training and qualifications for the offshore wind sector – the Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation, the Global Wind Organisation and the International Contractors Association - to align training standards enabling workforce mobility.

Offshore Industry: Conditions of Employment

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to assess levels of commercial pressure on contractors employed in the production of offshore oil and gas on the UK Continental Shelf.

Graham Stuart: The Department does not currently assess levels of commercial pressure on contractors on the UK Continental Shelf. The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) works with industry, governments and trade associations to facilitate and promote effective collaboration with the supply chain to meet the voluntary commitments outlined in the North Sea Transition Deal, and develop a globally competitive, capable and innovative supply chain. ​These objectives are driven through the NSTA Stewardship Expectation 12, Supply Chain Action Plans (SCAPs), Energy Pathfinder, and formal supply chain stewardship reviews with operators. See weblink for more:https://www.nstauthority.co.uk/supply-chain/overview/.

Carbon Emissions: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with his Northern Irish counterpart on Northern Ireland's Net Zero target to deliver energy savings of 25 per cent from buildings and industry by 2030.

Graham Stuart: The Net Zero, Energy and Climate Change Inter-ministerial Group (IMG) brings together Ministers from the four administrations to discuss emission reduction efforts across the UK. At the most recent IMG on 26 October, Minister Poots shared an update on progress towards net zero with others in attendance.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of removing eligibility to the Warm Home Discount Scheme for recipients of Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payments on the care needs and health conditions of people in receipt of those benefits.

Graham Stuart: Households in receipt of means-tested benefits with high energy costs based on certain characteristics of their property will be eligible for the rebate under the Warm Home Discount scheme. Around 62% of Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance recipients receive a means-tested benefit; those with high energy costs would be eligible for a rebate. As a result of expanding and reforming the scheme 160,000 more households where a person has a disability or long-term illness will receive a rebate each year.

Fossil Fuels: Climate Change

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Global Witness report that 636 fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to COP27, whether the Government is taking to steps to help tackle the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists on international climate change policy.

Graham Stuart: Every participating country is responsible for selecting its own delegates to the Conference of the Parties (COP) and the UNFCCC is responsible for all accreditations. At COP26 in Glasgow, the UK ensured that any business participating on UK Presidency platforms was signed up to the UN-backed Science Based Targets (SBTs)or the Race To Zero initiative. The UK Government has applied these same climate criteria to businesses participating at the UK Pavilion at COP27 in Egypt. The Government regularly speaks with UK energy companies about security of supply as part of the transition to a net-zero economy.

Energy Bills Rebate

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many vouchers issued to those on prepayment meters in October as part of the Energy Bills Support Scheme have not been redeemed as of 14 November.

Graham Stuart: Prepayment meter customers should have received their first Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) discount voucher. These have been sent by SMS text, email or post. Suppliers are reporting to BEIS on scheme delivery, including the redemption of prepayment meter vouchers. These figures will be published in due course.

Housing: Sefton Central

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 7th November 2022 to Question 75897 on Housing: Sefton Central, what steps his Department plans to take to increase the rate of loft insulation in Sefton Central.

Graham Stuart: The Government is committed to improving the energy performance of homes across the country, including in Sefton Central. The Government is therefore investing £12 billion in ‘Help to Heat’ schemes to ensure households can benefit from loft insulation and other energy efficiency measures. The Government recently announced an additional £1bn to deliver further energy efficiency improvements through the Energy Company Obligation. ECO+ will help hundreds of thousands of households across Great Britain take action to reduce their energy bills.

Housing: Sefton Central

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Pursuant to the Answer of 7th November 2022 to Question 75899 on Housing: Sefton Central, what discussion he has held with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the progress of the Green Heat Networks Fund.

Graham Stuart: My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no discussions with my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer on the Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) to date. His officials have regular contact with their counterparts at HM Treasury about the progress of the GHNF. The GHNF is also part of the Government Major Projects Portfolio where progress is regularly monitored and progress published annually.

Housing: Sefton Central

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Pursuant to the Answer of 8th November 2022 to Question 77388 on Housing: Sefton Central, how many homes (a) there are (b) require external wall insulation in Sefton Central constituency.

Graham Stuart: BEIS does not publish information specifically on the number of homes that require external wall insulation. Information on the number of homes with solid walls at a national level and the remaining potential can be found in table 8.7 accompanying the latest Household Energy Efficiency Statistics, Detailed Report 2021 here.

Housing: Sefton Central

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Pursuant to the Answer of 8th November 2022 to Question 77388, which wards in Sefton Central have had external wall insulation fitted.

Graham Stuart: The Department estimates that under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and Green Homes Grant (GHG) Government schemes, external wall insulation measures have been installed in the following wards within Sefton Central: Blundellsands, Manor, Molyneux, Park and Sudell.

Carbon Emissions: Job Creation

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Pursuant to the Answer of 8th November 2022 to Question 78696 on Carbon Emissions: Job Creation, how many of the estimated 54,000 jobs in the low-carbon industry will be based in Merseyside.

Graham Stuart: Data on jobs created in the low carbon industry-sector in Merseyside is not held centrally. The HyNet North West project aims to establish a low carbon cluster and support industrial decarbonisation in the North West. HyNet North West estimate it will directly provide 6,000 permanent jobs in the region.

Carbon Emissions: Regulation

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to update the Ofgem's Strategy and Policy Statement to enable it to regulate for Net Zero.

Graham Stuart: The Gas Act 1986 and the Electricity Act 1989 state that Ofgem’s principal objective is to protect the interests of existing and future consumers, including their interests in the reduction of emissions of targeted greenhouse gases. These Acts define emissions and targeted greenhouse emissions as being the same as in Part 1 of the Climate Change Act 2008. Therefore, Ofgem already has a decarbonisation objective in law, which will be supported by the Strategy and Policy Statement setting out the Government’s priorities as a guide for the regulator. The Government aims to publish a consultation on the Strategy and Policy Statement soon.

Energy: Prices

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the potential relationship between the profits of Distribution Network Operators and consumer energy costs.

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with representatives of Ofgem on the Distribution Network Operators pricing consultation; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of reopening this consultation.

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) capping and (b) increasing regulation of the profits of Distribution Network Operators.

Graham Stuart: Ofgem, as the independent energy regulator, uses the price control process to set the amount that Network Operators can spend and the returns they can make on investment, in a way that allows the funding needed for a more resilient, low-carbon network while protecting consumers from excessive costs. The Government engages regularly with Ofgem and the network companies throughout the development of the price controls. The next electricity distribution network price control will commence in April 2023, with Final Determinations from Ofgem expected shortly.

Hospices: Energy

Dave Doogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to take steps to provide additional financial support with energy bills for charity children’s hospices including Children’s Hospices Across Scotland, in the context of rising energy bills.

Graham Stuart: The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) will be in place from 1 October 2022 until April 2023 to support non-domestic energy customers in Great Britain. The Government has committed to carrying out a review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme to inform decisions on future support after March 2023. Over the course of the review, the Government will be engaging widely to understand those who are most in need of further support. The findings of the review will be published by the end of the year.

Energy: Pre-payment

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is his Department's policy that energy companies should be able to install pre-payment meters in homes without (a) notice and (b) homeowner permission; and whether he has made a recent estimate of how many times this has happened to people who are in hospital in the last 12 months.

Graham Stuart: The energy regulator Ofgem has rules in place that restrict the force-fitting of a prepayment meter on those in arrears, except as a last resort. Ofgem rules further require energy suppliers to assess whether installing a prepayment meter, including the remote switching of a smart meter, is safe and reasonably practicable for the customer. This assessment should include identifying any vulnerability. Ofgem has published a letter to suppliers on the issue here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/letter-suppliers-november-2022.

Alternative Fuel Payments

Dave Doogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that all eligible households receive the £100 Alternative Fuel Payment from their electricity providers.

Graham Stuart: A Direction-based approach has been used successfully to deliver the Energy Bill Support Scheme via energy suppliers in Great Britain. As such, the Government is confident it can be used to deliver further support schemes like the Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) scheme. Clause 22 of The Energy Prices Bill 2022 gives power to the Secretary of State to give directions to a person who holds an energy licence. It will allow the Secretary of State to set out the necessary requirements for relevant energy licence holders to deliver energy support schemes including AFP.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Coronavirus

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many employees in his Department work on matters related to covid-19.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have 49 Employees (including contingent) who are currently working on matters related to Covid-19.

Energy Supply Taskforce

Lee Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the remit is of the Energy Supply Taskforce; by what criteria his Department will make an assessment of whether the Taskforce has been a success; and what the planned timetable is for the publication of the first report by the Taskforce.

Graham Stuart: The Energy Supply Taskforce was announced on the 8 September 2022, with the objective of investigating commercial alternatives for the United Kingdom’s energy security. Its remit covers natural gas and not the wider energy market. The Taskforce is engaging with a broad range of gas producers and shippers, and is advising Ministers accordingly. It would not be appropriate to publish a report on their work, which is highly commercially sensitive.

Strike Ballots: Internet

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if the Government will make it its policy to allow trade union members to vote online when deciding to take industrial action.

Kevin Hollinrake: Before responding to the Knight Review recommendations, the Government was required by Section 4 of the Trade Union Act 2016 to consult relevant organisations, including professionals from expert associations, to seek their advice and recommendations. We have done this and are now finalising our consideration of Sir Ken’s recommendations before we issue our response in due course.

Sustainable Development: Standards

Mark Pawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is his policy to consult on a process for adopting the sustainability reporting standards to be issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government strongly supports the development of IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards by the International Sustainability Standards Board and is committed to developing an endorsement and adoption mechanism to allow for use of the Standards in the UK. The Government will consult on the endorsement and adoption mechanism in due course.

Tidal Power

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department will publish revised guidance on tidal energy as part of the energy National Policy Statement.

Graham Stuart: BEIS has been analysing the responses received as part of the public consultation on the draft revised energy National Policy Statements and aims to issue the response shortly. This will take into account these responses and any resolutions or recommendations from the Parliamentary scrutiny process.

Animal Experiments: Surveys

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Answer of 13 May 2021 to Question 1041 on Animal Experiments: Surveys, whether the research for an update to the Public Attitudes to Animal Research survey has been carried out; and when his Department plans to publish the results of that research.

George Freeman: The Government understands the importance of this research. The Department is considering when and how best this could be undertaken.

Bulb Energy: Octopus Energy

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2022 on Bulb Energy: Takeovers, at what point during the takeover of Bulb Energy by Octopus Energy the process will cease to be commercially sensitive.

Graham Stuart: The sales process between Bulb and Octopus Energy has not yet been completed. Due to the commercial sensitivity around the contractual documentation between Bulb and Octopus, to which the Government is not a counterparty, the Government cannot speculate on when this will cease. The Government remains committed to providing transparency to Parliament at the appropriate time.

National Grid: Renewable Energy

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the improvements required in the capacity of the National Grid to accommodate increased use of renewable energy.

Graham Stuart: In August 2022, the Government and Ofgem jointly published the Electricity Networks Strategic Framework, setting out a vision for the transformation of the electricity network to ensure it enables a clean, secure and low-cost energy system. The Framework included analysis suggesting that the network could require an additional £100-£240bn of investment to meet net zero and could support 50,000-130,000 jobs and contribute £4-11bn to the economy by 2050. The Government is working closely with Ofgem, as the body responsible for network regulation, to deliver the capacity needed to accommodate additional generation.

Postage Stamps

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, What discussions he has had with Royal Mail on the effect on philately of the introduction of barcoded stamps.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of stamps that will become invalid after not being used or swapped for barcoded stamps before the deadline.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with Royal Mail on the (a) forthcoming introduction by Royal Mail of barcoded postage stamps and (b) invalidation of non-barcoded stamps on 1 February 2023.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made a recent estimate of the average value of stamps held by each person in the UK as of 8 November 2022; if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of missing a deadline to swap those stamps for new barcoded stamps on those people.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether there is a statutory basis for the forthcoming (a) introduction by Royal Mail of barcoded postage stamps and (b) invalidation of non-barcoded stamps on 1 February 2023.

Kevin Hollinrake: Ministers and officials meet with Royal Mail regularly to discuss a range of issues in relation to its role as the universal postal service provider. The development of barcoded stamp products as well as the invalidation of non-barcoded stamps is not covered by requirements in postal legislation and so is an operational matter for Royal Mail, which is a private company. The Government is not involved in Royal Mail’s operational or commercial decisions.Royal Mail launched a ‘Swap Out’ scheme for regular non-barcoded stamps on 31 March 2022 and has clarified that special issue and Christmas stamps will continue to be valid and will not need to be swapped out.Royal Mail has also set out that there is currently no end date for when customers can swap their stamps meaning that this option can be accessed after 31 January 2023.It is Royal Mail’s responsibility to ensure its customers are aware of the introduction of barcoded stamps and the arrangements for exchanging old stamps. Further information about its plans for barcoded stamps is available on Royal Mail’s website: www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps.

Energy Bills Rebate

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what measures are in place to ensure the Energy Bill Support Scheme is paid to customers

Graham Stuart: The Energy Bills Support Scheme is delivering a £400 non-repayable Government discount in instalments over six months from October to March to help 29 million households in Great Britain with energy bills over the winter. Suppliers are reporting to BEIS on scheme delivery, including the redemption of prepayment meter vouchers. These figures will be published in due course. Separate arrangements will be announced for households not eligible for the main scheme in Great Britain and for consumers in Northern Ireland.

Companies: Registration

Alberto Costa: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that Companies House is tackling the setting up of fraudulent companies; and whether he has plans to bring forward corporate transparency and registry changes to Companies House's procedures.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill was introduced in the House of Commons in September and is currently in Commons Committee stage. It contains measures to bear down on the use of UK companies and other corporate structures as vehicles for economic crime, including fraud. The Bill will, among other things, introduce identity verification for people who manage and control companies registered at Companies House. It will also give Companies House new powers to check, challenge and decline dubious information on the Register – ensuring that any fraudulent appointments or addresses can be struck off more easily

Advanced Research and Invention Agency: Pay

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2022 to Question 155732 on Advanced Research and Invention Agency: Pay, when the Advanced Research and Invention Agency plans to publish remuneration details of its senior leadership team.

George Freeman: ARIA’s Chief Executive Officer and Chair took up post on 15 August 2022, and the rest of ARIA’s senior leadership team are now being appointed. As with other arm’s length bodies, remuneration information will be published in the Agency’s annual reports and accounts.

Energy: Meters

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 77419 on Energy: Meters, in what ways the Energy Price Guarantee complements the Data Access and Privacy Framework for smart metering.

Graham Stuart: The smart metering Data Access and Privacy Framework (DAPF) ensures that households have control over who can access their energy consumption data and for what purposes, except where this is required for regulated purposes. It establishes specific provisions relating to the processing of energy consumption data, which are designed to complement, but not replace, wider data protection legislation. Electricity and Gas meter personal data collected through the Energy Price Guarantee scheme will be processed in the public interest under Article 6(1)(e) of UK GDPR. Smart meters only record energy consumption data. Personal information such as names, addresses and bank details are not stored on a smart meter.

Research: Finance

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of public sector funding for research and development; and if he will make an assessment of that funding on private sector investment in research and development at all stages of research.

George Freeman: BEIS has published research by Oxford Economics on the relationship between public and private funding of research and development (R&D) at which estimated the monetary impact of the long-run leverage rate, suggesting that each £1 of public R&D eventually stimulates between £1.96 and £2.34 of private R&D:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-and-development-relationship-between-public-and-private-funding. Public investment in R&D underpins long-term economic growth, is a vital component in our plan for achieving Net Zero and ensures the long-term defence and security of the UK by keeping us at the forefront of technological capabilities. This is why, at the last Spending Review, the Government announced the largest ever sustained uplift in public R&D spending.

Intellectual Property: Departmental Responsibilities

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which Minister is responsible for intellectual property.

George Freeman: I am the Minister responsible for intellectual property.

Department of Health and Social Care

Breasts: Plastic Surgery

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women (a) have a PIP breast implant, (b) have been informed that that implant poses a health risks, (c) have been offered a PIP breast implant removal and (d) have had a PIP implant removal by the NHS.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Obesity

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many meetings he has had with obesity prevention (a) charities and (b) organisations since his appointment.

Neil O'Brien: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Visual Impairment

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential economic impact of sight loss.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Carers: Health

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the State of Caring 2022 survey, published by Carers UK, on 8 November 2022, what assessment he has made for the implications for his policies of the findings in that survey.

Helen Whately: No formal assessment has been made.

Huntington's Disease: Health Services

Amy Callaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has held discussions with the devolved administrations on developing consistent guidance and support for people with Huntington's disease.

Helen Whately: While there have been no specific discussions, we regularly engage with the devolved administrations on support for people with rare conditions, such as Huntington’s disease.The UK Rare Diseases Framework, published in January 2021, sets out the ambition to improve the lives of those with rare diseases. The nation-specific action plans provide details on how each administration will meet the shared priorities of the Framework.

Dementia: Greater London

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to dementia diagnosis services in London.

Helen Whately: The London Dementia Clinical Network, a collaborative group of practicing clinician researchers, is supporting memory assessment services to improve performance by disseminating best practice and pathway guidance.In 2021/22, £17 million was made available to clinical commissioning groups to specifically address dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses. Work to improve dementia diagnosis rates continues in 2022/23.

Care Quality Commission

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what changes he plans to make to the CQC's remit to enable it to better deliver change in mental health services.

Maria Caulfield: As the independent regulator of health and social care in England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is changing its approach to regulating mental health settings to ensure any issues can be identified at an early stage. This includes undertaking out of hours and unannounced inspections; working with people with lived experience to develop an observational-based methodology, to enable shorter and more frequent, on-site inspections of mental health services where closed cultures and restrictive practice are at greatest risk of developing; and working to make system improvements on data reporting and sharing intelligence between monitoring visits and mental health inspections.

Dementia: Health Services

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a comparative assessment of regional differences in accessing dementia care.

Helen Whately: No formal assessment has been made. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable high-quality care and support services which meet the needs of the local population, including those living with dementia.

Mental Health Services: Young People

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what target his Department has for the time it should take for a young person to receive an assessment by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services; and whether Tees Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust met this target in the latest period for which data is available.

Maria Caulfield: No such target has been set, as a national access and waiting times standard for children and young people’s mental health services has not yet been defined. NHS England has consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards, which includes children, young people and their families/carers presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. We are now working with NHS England on the next steps.

Speech and Language Therapy: Children

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support the mental health of children who are experiencing speech and language delay.

Maria Caulfield: Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand NHS mental health services in England. This will allow an additional 345,000 children and young people to access National Health Service-funded mental health support, including those experiencing a speech and language delay with a co-occurring mental health condition. In 2021/22, we provided an additional £79 million to expand children’s mental health services, which allowed a further 22,500 children and young people to access community health services and accelerated the coverage of mental health support teams in primary schools, secondary schools and colleges. We also launched a campaign through Every Mind Matters to raise awareness of guidance and tools available to support children and young people’s mental wellbeing.

Veterans

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress his Department has made on increasing Veteran Aware accreditation in NHS trusts; and if he will take steps to extend the Veteran Aware accreditation scheme to all GP practices in the UK.

Maria Caulfield: As of 1 October 2022, 60% of National Health Service trusts have been accredited as Veteran Aware, including acute hospitals, ambulance services, mental health and community trusts. This has increased from 51% as at July 2022. NHS England’s Veteran Covenant Health Alliance Programme continues to work with trusts to support accreditation.With the Royal College of General Practitioners, NHS England is working to accredit all general practitioner practices in England as 'veteran friendly'. As of 30 September, 24.4% of practices have been accredited as veteran friendly. While accreditation is currently open to practices in England, the Royal College of General Practitioners is working with the devolved administrations to extend the programme.

Neurodiversity: Children

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of waiting times for the assessment for neurodiverse conditions by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Darlington constituency in the latest period for which data is available; and what steps he is taking to improve waiting times for these assessments.

Maria Caulfield: This information is not held in the format requested. However, in Darlington, new referrals are being screened within four weeks. The Country Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust is working with commissioners and partners to reduce demands on the diagnostic pathways. A whole system offer is being delivered to support families with needs typically associated with autism, which does not require a diagnosis. The offer includes a family support service, sensory programme and training for schools. In addition, NHS England is developing a national framework on how children, young people and adults should receive a diagnosis, to improve the quality of these diagnostic processes and reduce waiting times.

Mental Health Services: Social Security Benefits

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what steps can be taken to (a) identify benefit (i) applicants and (ii) recipients with mental health support needs and (b) ensure that appropriate support is provided in such cases.

Maria Caulfield: We continue to work with other Government departments to support people with mental health needs, including the Department for Work and Pensions. Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand National Health Service mental health services, which will allow an additional two million people to access support.

Bereavement Counselling

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of full-time bereavement care centres in the last 12 months.

Maria Caulfield: No specific assessment has been made. Bereavement support is commissioned locally to meet the needs of the local population. NHS England has developed guidance for integrated care boards which requires commissioners to ensure there is sufficient access to bereavement support services.

Anxiety: Children and Young People

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the proposed NICE guidance on prescribing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy apps to children and young people who have anxiety.

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment he has made of the efficacy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) apps with in-person CBT treatment.

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of children and young people his Department expects to be prescribed cognitive behavioural therapy apps, following the newly proposed NICE guidance.

Maria Caulfield: The draft guidance for these products has been produced through the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) Early Value Assessment pilot process. NICE’s conditional recommendation will support further evidence generation, assessing clinical and cost effectiveness until the product meets the requirements for evidence to receive full guidance. The full guidance will determine efficacy in comparison to other treatments options, including in-person cognitive behavioural therapy. The products are conditionally recommended as a first-line treatment option or alongside other treatments for children and young people. The conditional recommendation and accompanying points on evidence generation may change after consultation. Until full guidance is confirmed post consultation, there is no estimate to determine the number of prescriptions expected to be made.

Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme: Coronavirus

Bim Afolami: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the speed of processing covid-19 vaccine damage payments; and if his Department will publish its target timeframes for the processing these claims.

Maria Caulfield: The Department continues to work with the NHS Business Services Authority to increase the speed of processing all claims to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS). We have increased administrative and medical assessment capacity and the NHS Business Services Authority has also implemented Subject Access Requests to encourage the timely return of medical records required to carry out medical assessments.The average claim takes approximately six months to investigate and process from the date a claimant’s medical records are requested. There are no target timeframes as this can vary from case to case, depending on how quickly medical records are received.

Health Services: Females

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's policy paper entitled Women’s Health Strategy for England, published 20 July 2022, what progress his Department has made on standardising data on protected characteristics since the publication of that strategy.

Maria Caulfield: The Department and NHS England are exploring how data on protected characteristics could be effectively standardised. We will ensure that this is aligned with the Government Statistical Service’s development of updated harmonised standards for the collection of ethnicity data in 2022/23.

Infant Mortality

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many sudden infant deaths occurred in the UK in each of the last three years.

Maria Caulfield: The sudden unexpected death of a baby, when there is no apparent cause of death, is known as sudden unexpected death in infancy. This includes sudden infant death syndrome and fatal sleep accidents.Statistics on sudden infant deaths for England and Wales are reported by the Office for National Statistics with separate publications by the National Records of Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The following table shows the most recent data available in each year since 2018. England and WalesScotlandNorthern Ireland2021Not yet available15Not yet available202078 (provisional)13220191032332018114280 Note:Data for England and Wales in 2020 data is provisional due to registration delays during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finalised data will be published in 2023.

Pregnancy: Mental Health Services

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Integrated Care Boards commission specialist perinatal mental health services.

Maria Caulfield: Since April 2019, there has been a specialist community perinatal mental health (PMH) service in every integrated care service area of England. The NHS Long Term Plan committed to transform specialist PMH services, to ensure at least 66,000 women can access specialist perinatal mental health services every year by 2023/24. Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, we are also investing £100 million in PMH and parent-infant relationships support. This will be available in the 75 eligible local authorities.

Congenital Abnormalities: Screening

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress has been made in the further development of guidance by the relevant professional bodies with respect to the role of health professionals in supporting women to make informed choices on antenatal testing for foetal abnormalities.

Maria Caulfield: The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ current guidance ‘Supporting women and their partners through prenatal screening for Down's syndrome, Edwards' syndrome and Patau's syndrome’ is available at the following link: https://www.rcog.org.uk/guidance/browse-all-guidance/other-guidelines-and-reports/supporting-women-and-their-partners-through-prenatal-screening-for-downs-syndrome-edwards-syndrome-and-pataus-syndrome/ The guidance states that all women must receive information about antenatal screening tests early in pregnancy before they are asked to make any screening decision. National Health Service staff should ensure that information provided to parents on screening options and the conditions screened for is accessible, accurate and balanced. Women are supported in the personal decision to accept or decline antenatal screening tests and to stop this screening during the care pathway if they wish. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists are developing updated materials, including a ‘Green-top guideline’ and accompanying patient information, which is due for publication in 2025.

Learning Disability: Health Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the sufficiency of learning difficulties services; and what steps he is taking to increase services in areas where there is a shortfall.

Maria Caulfield: No specific assessment has been made. Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning services for the local population in line with relevant guidance. In 2022/23, we are investing an additional £90 million to develop community provision and to support discharge for people with a learning disability and autistic people in England.

Breasts: Plastic Surgery

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a public inquiry into the safety of PIP breast implants.

Maria Caulfield: There are no current plans to commission a public inquiry into the safety of PIP breast implants. Since these implants were withdrawn in 2010, there have been two independent reviews in 2012 and 2013. Subsequently, the Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry has collected and published data on all types of breast implant and removal surgery in the United Kingdom since 2016.  The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is implementing a future regulatory regime to enhance its monitoring of devices and enable earlier identification of safety issues. In addition, it will ensure medical devices receive improved risk-proportionate scrutiny before reaching the market. Through the introduction of Unique Device Identifier requirements, the MHRA will improve the traceability of devices and the patients who receive them. The Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021 introduced greater transparency on safety issues with devices, such as breast implants.

Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme: Coronavirus

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 72915 on Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme: Coronavirus, how many of the 217 rejected claims were rejected for (a) lack of causation and (b) falling below the 60 per cent disablement threshold; and what were the five most commonly cited (i) disabilities and (ii) other health impacts in claims that were rejected.

Maria Caulfield: Of the 217 rejected COVID-19 claims, 199 were rejected due to lack of causation and 17 were rejected due to not meeting the 60% disability threshold. One claim is invalid as not meeting the eligibility to apply under the Scheme.Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme assessors do not accept or reject specific conditions or injuries. Claims are individually assessed on a case-by-case basis by an experienced independent medical assessor. We are unable to provide the information requested on the health conditions of individuals whose claims have been rejected as it relates to personal information, from which unsuccessful claimants could potentially be identified.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2022 to Question 77275 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, what (a) criteria and (b) guidance is used by medical assessors to ensure the consistency of assessment across cases of (i) multi-system inflammatory syndrome and (ii) other auto-immune responses as a result of a covid-19 vaccine when interpreting the criteria of the (A) Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, (B) schedule 2 of the Social Security (General Benefit) Regulations 1982 and (C) section 103 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992.

Maria Caulfield: All claims are assessed using a consistent approach, regardless of the type of case. To ensure consistency, the NHS Business Services Authority has recently introduced sampling to quality assure medical assessments. This allows claims to be progressed more rapidly while ensuring the high standards required, in line with Schedule 2 of the Social Security (General Benefit) Regulations 1982 and Section 103 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992.Guidance and resources to support medical assessments include but are not limited to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s data such as Yellow Card reports; vaccine product information updates; the Green Book; other research; and systematic reviews such the Cochrane library.

Mental Health: Cost of Living

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department collects on the effect of rising living costs on mental health; what steps he will take to monitor the effect of rising living costs on mental health; and what steps he will take with Cabinet colleagues on monitoring the impact of any deterioration in mental health on the UK economy.

Maria Caulfield: While specific data is not collected, changes in the prevalence of mental ill-health in children and young people is monitored through the Mental Health of Children and Young People in England survey. The latest survey published in 2021 is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-of-children-and-young-people-in-england/2021-follow-up-to-the-2017-survey The prevalence of mental ill-health in adults is monitored through the NHS Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, with the latest survey expected to be published in 2024. We also routinely monitor changes to National Health Service mental health service demand. The Office for National Statistics is undertaking analysis on the cost of living and depression in adults, which is due to be published on 6 December 2022.

NHS Trusts: Regulation

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many regulatory bodies NHS trusts are required to engage with.

Maria Caulfield: This information is not held centrally.There are a range of regulatory bodies with a remit for sections of National Health Service trusts’ operations, which can vary. NHS England and the Care Quality Commission are the principal organisations which every trust can expect to engage with on the quality of care, delivery of services and financial efficiency.

Bereavement Counselling and Mental Health Services: Veterans

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to encourage local authorities to include clear signposting for local veteran-specific support services including (a) mental health services and (b) bereavement support.

Maria Caulfield: Local authorities are encouraged to receive updates from the National Health Service which outline initiatives in support of the armed forces community, including information on Op COURAGE. Bereavement support is commissioned locally to meet the need of the local population. NHS England has developed guidance for integrated care boards which requires commissioners to ensure there is sufficient access to bereavement support services.

Prescriptions: Pregnancy

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) fines have been issued and (b) individuals have been fined or required to repay the value of a prescription after the fact, due to an individual failing to pay for a prescription without a valid maternity exemption certificate in each of the last five years.

Neil O'Brien: The following table shows the number of patients who declared they held a valid Maternity Exemption Certificate and who were issued with at least one penalty charge notice (PCN) and the number of PCNs issued in each of the last five years.Number of patients declaring a valid maternity exemption certificate and were issued with at least one PCNNumber of PCNs issued against maternity exemption declarations201873,91892,208201973,91592,440202012,61413,35920218585202220,25722,344Total180,789220,436 Source: the NHS Business Services AuthorityPCNs are sometimes issued to patients who were entitled to claim free prescriptions due to data mismatches. This may be for reasons such as the patient has moved and not updated their address with their general practitioner or changed their name and not updated the exemption certificate. The patient is sent an enquiry letter asking to confirm their entitlement and any data updates can be undertaken at this stage and the case closed if appropriate. If the patient does not respond to the enquiry letter within 28 days, they will automatically be sent a penalty charge notice.

Smoking

Andrew Lewer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the data from the Office for National Statistics bulletin on adult smoking habits will be used to inform the Tobacco Control Plan.

Neil O'Brien: The Government is considering the independent recommendations made in ‘The Khan review: making smoking obsolete’ and whether an updated Tobacco Control Plan is the most appropriate way to respond. Should a new Plan be published, it will be informed by the most recent Office for National Statistics information on adult smoking habits in the United Kingdom.

Dementia: Finance

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding the Government will make available for the implementation of the 10-year plan for dementia.

Helen Whately: We are currently reviewing plans for dementia in England.

Care Homes: Visits

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State for Social Care of 27 Oct 2022, Official Report, col. 494, what his Department's expected timetable is for the conclusion of work commissioned on the potential merits of guaranteeing the right to maintain contact in care settings; and whether he plans to publish the outcomes of that work.

Helen Whately: The Government’s guidance states that every resident should be able to have at least one visitor in all circumstances. We are currently engaging with stakeholders and reviewing a range of options to avoid instances where residents are unable to receive visitors.

Health: Disadvantaged

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2022 to Question 59129 on Health: Disadvantaged, whether he plans to publish a White Paper on health disparities by the end of 2022 in addition to the recently published Government plan, Our Plan for Patients.

Neil O'Brien: No decisions have yet been made.

Dental Services: Bradford West

Naz Shah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve NHS dentist provision in Bradford West constituency.

Neil O'Brien: NHS England asked dental practices to return to full delivery of contracted activity from July 2022, including in Bradford West. In September, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in Bradford West.The plan includes improvements to ensure dentists are renumerated fairly for more complex work, allowing greater flexibility to reallocate resources and to utilise dentists with greater capacity to deliver National Health Service treatment, whilst enabling full use of the dental team. The plan also includes streamlining processes for overseas dentists and holding the local NHS to account for dentistry provision. In addition, Health Education England is also reforming dental education to improve the recruitment and retention of dental professionals.

Breast Cancer: Bradford West

Naz Shah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the uptake of breast cancer screening in Bradford West constituency.

Helen Whately: The Department is working with NHS England to finalise the delivery of £10 million for breast screening units, including determining which areas will benefit from this investment.National Health Service breast screening providers are also encouraged to work with Cancer Alliances, Primary Care Networks, NHS regional teams and the voluntary sector to promote the uptake of breast screening and ensure access to services.

Mental Health Services: Bradford West

Naz Shah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve access to mental health services in Bradford West constituency.

Naz Shah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help support young people with eating disorders in Bradford West constituency.

Maria Caulfield: In September we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will increase access to National Health Service mental health and eating disorder services, including in Bradford West. Ensuring easier access to general practice will expand this route to access mental health services.Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand NHS mental health and eating disorder services for adults, children and young people in England, including in Bradford West. We will invest approximately £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness including eating disorders, by 2023/24 and an additional £53 million per year in children and young people's community eating disorder services to increase capacity in the 70 community eating disorder teams.

Health: Disadvantaged

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason his Department has not made a statement on delays to the proposed health disparities white paper.

Neil O'Brien: We are currently reviewing Departmental priorities, including the health disparities white paper and further information will be available in due course.

HIV Infection: Drugs

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2022 to Question 82228 on HIV Infection: Drugs, whether his Department plans to make this assessment; and whether his Department is taking steps to improve the (a) monitoring and (b) data collection of (i) eligibility and (ii) uptake of PrEP.

Neil O'Brien: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) works with sexual health services in England to improve the quality of data on eligibility and uptake of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Any changes in the previously published number of clients assessed as eligible for or using PrEP will be assessed with each quarterly submission of data to the UKHSA and where necessary, previously published data will be updated with the next HIV official statistics release in 2023. The Department is currently gathering evidence to understand why some population groups who would benefit from PrEP are under-represented and to identify potential barriers to access. This evidence will be considered by the PrEP Access and Equity Task and Finish Group.

Genito-urinary Medicine

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report by the Local Government Association entitled Breaking point: Securing the future of sexual health services, published on 15 November 2022; and if he will take steps to help increase access to sexual health services.

Neil O'Brien: We will consider this report and other evidence in developing plans to improve sexual and reproductive health in England, including access to services.

Food Supply

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential Impact of trends in the levels of food insecurity on public health.

Neil O'Brien: No specific assessment has been made.

Leader of the House

Government Departments: Training

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Leader of the House, what percentage of eligible officials in each government department have received training from the Parliamentary Capability Team.

Penny Mordaunt: The table below provides total numbers of attendees, by department at Parliamentary Capability Team (PCT) training events since August 2017 (when the team was created). Training is open to all civil servants, but efforts are made to focus resources on those in roles that interact directly and indirectly with Parliament - including policy officials, and those directly supporting ministers.Data under ‘cross-government/unspecified’ relates to attendance at events not arranged by the PCT, such as the annual Civil Service Live programme, and as part of other civil service initiatives such as the Fast Stream and Policy Profession programmes. Attorney General's Office84Cabinet Office2523Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy1344Department for Culture, Media & Sport2061Department for Education869Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs2214Department for Exiting the European Union243Department for International Development29Department for International Trade819Department for Transport5477Department for Work and Pensions1642Department of Health and Social Care968Foreign and Commonwealth & Development Office279Government Legal Department96HM Revenue & Customs1399HM Treasury908Home Office1637Ministry of Defence717Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government621Ministry of Justice1206Northern Ireland Office86Prime Ministers Office3Scotland Office50Wales Office16Charity Commission6Companies House7Crown Prosecution Service10Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)39Food Standards Agency (FSA)285Forestry Commission of England and Wales3GCHQ10Government Equalities Office114Health and Safety Executive87Infected Blood Inquiry5Intellectual Property Office40MHRA5National Archives2NHS2Office for National Statistics (ONS)104Ofgem54Ofsted7Public Health England (PHE)117Regulator of Social Housing1Scottish Government10UK Statistics Authority1Valuation Office Agency5Cross-Govt/ Unspecified4332

Members: Correspondence and Written Questions

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Leader of the House, what work the Parliamentary Capability Team has been doing with government departments to ensure timely and quality responses to Written Parliamentary Questions and correspondence from MPs.

Penny Mordaunt: The Parliamentary Capability Team (PCT) provides training on managing parliamentary work to civil servants of all departments and grades. As part of this work, it offers blended learning courses on Written Parliamentary Questions and Ministerial Correspondence, and tailored workshops for Senior Civil Servants (SCS) on these processes. Since April 2020, this training has been attended by 2,303 civil servants. The PCT also supports departmental parliamentary teams to develop training on department-specific processes for this work.Over the course of the Summer recess, the former Deputy Leader of the House of Commons also visited multiple government departments with the PCT and spoke about the importance of departments providing full and timely responses to Written Parliamentary Questions and correspondence from Members of Parliament.

Parliament: Handbooks

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Leader of the House, if she will update the Guide to Parliamentary Work for officials.

Penny Mordaunt: Alongside UK Parliament Week, the updated Guide to Parliamentary Work was published on Monday 14th November and is now available on Gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-parliamentary-work). The guide has been produced by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, working closely with colleagues across government, and in the service of the House of Commons and House of Lords, and is designed for civil servants who work closely with Parliament and, in particular, Parliamentary teams across Whitehall.

Department for Education

Free School Meals: Cost of Living

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will undertake a review of the eligibility criteria for free school meals in the context of the cost of living crisis.

Nick Gibb: The Department continues to monitor the consequences of the rising cost of living and is working with other Government Departments to provide support. The Department will continue to keep free school meal (FSM) eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the Government believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, 37.5% of school children are now provided with FSM.

Curriculum: Citizenship

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the national curriculum has any compulsory aspects on the study of citizenship of the UK.

Nick Gibb: Citizenship forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4. Within citizenship, pupils in secondary maintained schools in England will be taught the workings of Parliament, voting and elections; the role of police, courts and justice; free press, human rights and international law; and the governments of other countries. Citizenship teaching should equip pupils to explore political and social issues, to debate, and to make reasoned arguments. Economic and financial education within citizenship prepares pupils to manage their money well and make sound financial decisions.The Department does not prescribe how the National Curriculum should be taught, but schools are expected to develop a curriculum that meets the needs of their pupils.The Department has published Political Impartiality in Schools guidance to support teachers in tackling sensitive issues in the classroom in a politically impartial way. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools.

National Tutoring Programme: Portsmouth South

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been spent through the National Tutoring Programme in Portsmouth South constituency in each month since that programme was launched.

Nick Gibb: School-led tutoring grant allocations by school and local authority for the 2021/22 academic year have been published at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1071234/School_Led_Funding_Publication_File_flat_values_v1.ods.Payment information relating to school-led tutoring for the academic year 2021/22 will be published by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, once the reconciliation process has been completed for that period.National Tutoring Programme grant allocations for the 2022/23 academic year have been published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-tutoring-programme-ntp-allocations-for-2022-to-2023-academic-year.Between November 2020 and June 2022, over two million tuition courses were started. The Government has committed more than £1 billion to support tutoring over the academic years 2020/21 to 2023/24, during which the Department aims to offer up to six million tutoring courses.

Primary Education: Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

Christian Wakeford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of adding financial education to the primary school national curriculum.

Christian Wakeford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the disparities in (a) access to and (b) quality of financial education in primary schools.

Nick Gibb: Financial education is taught within the compulsory mathematics curriculum at primary level, which provides young people with the knowledge to make important financial decisions. There is a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic that pupils should be taught. This is vital, as a strong grasp of arithmetic will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, using percentages. The mathematics curriculum also includes specific content on financial education, such as calculations with money.Primary schools can also teach financial education through citizenship. Although this is not part of the national curriculum until Key Stage 3, the Department has published a non-statutory citizenship curriculum for Key Stages 1 and 2, to support schools in ensuring that pupils are taught how to look after their money and realise that future wants and needs may be met through saving. There also is a wide range of resources available for schools, including the Money and Pension Service’s (MaPS) financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England, which can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/.The Department does not monitor financial education in primary schools, but it continues to work with MaPS and HM Treasury to consider the evidence and explore opportunities to promote the importance of financial education to schools. To this end, the Department is currently working with MaPS on a series of joint financial education webinars during this academic year, to promote the importance of financial education to school leaders of primary and secondary schools, and to build teachers’ confidence in this area.

Primary Education: Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of adding financial education to the primary school national curriculum; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of potential disparities in access and quality of financial education between primary schools across the country; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Education on financial matters helps to ensure that young people are prepared to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions and know where to seek further information when needed.The primary school curriculum includes financial education within the mathematics curriculum, which provides young people with the knowledge to make important financial decisions. A strong grasp of mathematics will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, using percentages. The mathematics curriculum also includes specific content on financial education, such as calculations with money.Primary schools can teach financial education through citizenship. Although this is not part of the National Curriculum until Key Stage 3, the Department has published a non-statutory citizenship curriculum for Key Stages 1 and 2, to support schools to ensure that pupils are taught how to look after their money and realise that future wants and needs may be met through saving. There is also a wide range of resources available for schools, including the Money and Pension Service’s (MaPS) financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England. This can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/.The Department does not monitor financial education in primary schools but continues to work with MaPS and HM Treasury to consider the evidence and explore opportunities to promote the importance of financial education to schools. The Department is currently working with MaPS on a series of joint financial education webinars during this academic year, to promote the importance of financial education to school leaders in primary and secondary schools and to build teachers’ confidence in this area.

Schools: HIV Infection

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that schools are teaching up-to-date information on HIV.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department provides guidance to schools to help prevent negative attitudes and beliefs about HIV among teachers and pupils.

Nick Gibb: In September 2020, the Government made relationships education compulsory for primary school pupils, relationships and sex education compulsory for secondary school pupils and health education compulsory for all pupils in state-funded schools.In secondary schools, the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance states that pupils should be taught factual knowledge around sex, sexual health, and sexuality, set firmly within the context of relationships. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education. Pupils should be taught information concerning contraception, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), developing intimate relationships and resisting pressure to have sex.The ‘intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health’ topic specifies that by the end of secondary school, pupils should know how different STIs, including HIV/AIDS, are transmitted, how risk can be reduced and the importance of and facts regarding testing. Pupils are also taught information concerning HIV/AIDS at Key Stages 3 and 4 as part of the science curriculum.To support teachers to deliver these topics safely and with confidence, the Department has produced RSHE teacher training modules, which are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health.From primary education onwards, age-appropriate relationships education supports pupils to treat each other with kindness, consideration and respect, including understanding the importance of respectful relationships and the different types of loving and healthy relationships that exist.

Schools: Neurodiversity

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to provide mandatory neuro diversity training for all teachers; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of maintaining a national league table of school staff that have undertaken this training.

Nick Gibb: The Teachers’ Standards set clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), which includes neurodiverse conditions. All trainees who achieve Qualified Teacher Status must demonstrate that they can adapt teaching to respond to the needs of all pupils.To support all teachers to meet these standards, the Department is implementing high quality teacher training reforms, which will begin with initial teacher training and continue into early career teaching with the Early Career Framework (ECF), through to the reformed suite of leadership and specialist NPQs, ensuring that teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND. Both the Initial Teacher Training Core Content Framework and ECF have been designed around how to support all pupils to succeed, including those pupils identified within the four areas of need set out in the SEND Code of Practice.In addition, the Universal Services programme, backed by almost £12 million, will help schools and the further education workforce to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, including those with autism, earlier and more effectively.It is up to head teachers to use their professional judgement to identify any further training, including specific specialisms, for individual staff that is relevant to them, the school, and its pupils.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to help improve young people’s understanding of finance and credit products; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to help improve young people’s understanding of the way in which buy-now-pay-later schemes operate; and if she will make a statement.

Christian Wakeford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve young people’s understanding of credit products; and if she will make a statement.

Christian Wakeford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve young people’s understanding of buy-now-pay-later schemes.

Nick Gibb: Education on financial matters helps to ensure that young people are prepared to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions and know where to seek further information when needed.Finance education forms part of the citizenship National Curriculum, at Key Stages 3 and 4, but can be taught by all schools at all Key Stages. Citizenship covers the functions and uses of money; the importance of personal budgeting; money management; and managing financial risk. At secondary school, pupils are taught information on income and expenditure; credit and debt; insurance, savings and pensions; financial products and services and the need to understand financial risk, including any emerging financial trends. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum.The current mathematics curriculum at primary level includes financial education and relevant skills, including calculations with money and using percentages, which provides young people with the knowledge and financial skills to make important financial decisions. The secondary mathematics curriculum develops pupils’ understanding and skills in relation to more complex personal finance issues, such as calculating loan repayments, interest rates and compound interest.The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) published financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England in November 2021, to support school leaders to enhance their financial education provision. The guidance is available at: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/. This guidance includes links to quality assured resources for schools, including content and activities on cryptocurrencies and buy now, pay later schemes. It also sets out the knowledge and skills pupils need to protect their personal data, critically evaluate online content and identify scams.The Department is working with MaPS on a series of joint financial education webinars during the 2022/23 academic year, to help both primary and secondary schools, to improve pupils’ skills and knowledge and build teachers’ confidence in this area.

Department for Education: Coronavirus

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many employees in her Department work on matters related to covid-19.

Nick Gibb: In March 2022, there were approximately 185 employees working in COVID-19 specific teams. From the end of March 2022, related COVID-19 work has been spread across several teams within the Department. The information on how many employees work on matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Schools: Stockport

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) carbon dioxide monitors and (b) air cleaning units have been delivered to schools in Stockport constituency in 2022.

Nick Gibb: Over the last year, backed by £25 million in Government funding, the Department has provided 386,699 CO2 monitors to state funded schools and colleges, including early years and further education institutions.In January 2022, the Government committed to fulfil all eligible applications for air cleaning units to state funded schools and colleges for poorly ventilated teaching spaces where quick fixes to improve ventilation were not possible. All eligible applications received have been fulfilled, with 8,026 air cleaning units distributed.During 2022, the Department has provided 121 CO2 monitors and 36 air cleaning units to schools and colleges in the Stockport constituency. The bulk of the CO2 monitors were rolled out in 2021.The Department does not monitor ventilation or the provision of air cleaning units in independent schools and colleges. The law says that all employers, including all education and childcare establishments, must make sure there is an adequate supply of fresh air (ventilation) in enclosed areas of the workplace. This has not changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students: Sanitary Protection

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the Period product scheme for schools and colleges in England to also include higher education institutions.

Robert Halfon: The Period Products Scheme launched in January 2020 and has recently been extended until July 2024. Within the first two years of the scheme, 94% of secondary schools and 90% of post-16 organisations had ordered products at least once. Higher Education providers are autonomous bodies, and it is up to them how they meet their students’ needs. This can include providing discretionary financial support where required, which can be used to cover the purchase of period products.

Ministry of Justice

HM Courts and Tribunals Service: ICT

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will suspend the rollout of the Common Platform.

Mike Freer: Common Platform is a fundamental part of the HMCTS Reform programme. It is essential if we are to successfully increase the efficiency of the criminal justice system overall and bring people speedier access to justice. It is replacing whole networks of outdated systems that are no longer fit for purpose. Common Platform is a large but vital system that will help make the criminal justice system more efficient and effective – allowing all parties involved in a case to access information on one system for the first time.  Once Common Platform is operating at full capacity it will cut down on duplication and unnecessary wasted time for admin teams, freeing up resources to focus on things that really matter. Common Platform will continue to roll out to all criminal courts in England and Wales, and as of 14th November is now live in 173 sites (58 Crown Courts and 115 Magistrates’ Courts). This equates to 76% of criminal courts that are now live with the system.

Aiding and Abetting: Convictions

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June to Question 11833 on Aiding and Abetting: Convictions, what his Department has made in investigating the best way to capture data about joint enterprise on the Common Platform.

Mike Freer: HMCTS has developed technical options in respect of a result or flag which will allow a user, in consultation with Crown Prosecution Service, to identify cases involving joint enterprise which can then be collated and reported on by HMCTS. Following evaluation of these options the recommended solution will then follow a governance and prioritisation process before being scheduled for delivery. Once the relevant data is captured on the Common Platform, officials will be able to assess which further steps would need to be undertaken for it to be measured and reported on correctly. This data may then, with further work, be made publishable as a national statistic.

Probate Service: Administrative Delays

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the causes of delays within the Probate Service; and what steps he is taking tackle those delays.

Mike Freer: Despite the unprecedented challenges faced by the probate service during the Covid 19 pandemic, and the increased volume of applications that have been seen since, the average length of time taken for a grant of probate following receipt of the documents required has been maintained at between five and seven weeks – with the average responses being almost 1 week faster in quarter 2 of 2022 than the yearly average for 2020 and 2021.HMCTS has increased resources to meet the higher demand following an increased number of estates requiring probate and is further increasing resourcing to further bring down overall timeliness on digital and paper applications.Average waiting times for probate grants, from April 2022 to June 2022, are published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly (Table 25):https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2022Information covering up to September 2022 will be published on 15 December.

Magistrates: Personnel Management and Vacancies

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) magistrates and (b) vacancies for magistrates there are; how many magistrates resigned or retired in each of the last five years; how many new magistrates were appointed in each of those years; and what the (a) gender and (b) ethnicity breakdown is of those appointed.

Mike Freer: The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on judicial diversity in England and Wales (Judicial Diversity Statistics – GOV.UK) annually, beginning in 2020. These statistics include a gender and ethnicity breakdown of appointed magistrates, as well as the number of magistrate leavers. Annual judicial statistics prior to 2020 were published by the Judiciary (Statistics and Reports - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary). These statistics include a gender and ethnicity breakdown of magistrates that were in post. Prior to 2020, data on new appointments and magistrates leavers was not collected.As of April 2022, there were 12,506 magistrates in England and Wales. The Government has invested over £1 million to support the recruitment of new and diverse magistrates, the Government’s top priority for the magistracy. The ambition is to recruit a further 4,000 magistrates, over the next few years.

Probate Service: Standards

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the response time of Probate Services.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average waiting time on the Probate Service telephone inquiry line is.

Mike Freer: HMCTS are committed to reducing call waiting times and are increasing resources to meet the increased demand. Extra resourcing is being directed to bring down the overall timeliness on digital and paper applications. The average length of time taken for a grant of probate following receipt of the documents required has been maintained at between five and seven weeks – with average responses being almost 1 week faster in quarter 2 of 2022 than the yearly average for 2020 and 2021.The average wait time for people telephoning the National Courts and Tribunal Service Centre with queries relating to Probate between January 2022 and September 2022 was 28 minutes and 4 seconds.

Animal Welfare: Prosecutions

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if his Department holds data on the number of prosecutions under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in 2021.

Edward Argar: The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants prosecuted for offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, in 2021, in the Outcomes by Offence data tool.Navigate to the ‘Prosecutions and Convictions’ tab and use the HO offence code filter to select the following offences:- 09701 - Causing, permitting or failing to prevent unnecessary suffering of protected animal- 09702 - Carrying out, permitting, causing to be carried out or failing to prevent prohibited procedure on a protected animal- 09705 - Offences relating to animal fights- 10829 - Causing, permitting or failing to prevent unnecessary suffering (Reclassified)- 10830 - Carrying out, permitting, causing to be carried out or failing to prevent prohibited procedure on a protected animal (Reclassified)- 10831 - Removing or causing or permitting or failing to prevent removal of dog’s tail other than for medical treatment (Reclassified)- 10832 - Administration of poisons etc to a protected animal (Reclassified)- 10834 - Failing to ensure needs of animal are met as required by good practice- 10836 - Carrying on activity without authority of S.13 licence or carrying on unregistered S.13 activity concerning Animal Welfare Act 2006

Domestic Abuse: Homicide

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of undertaking the Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review.

Edward Argar: The cost incurred in undertaking the Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review is approximately £37,000. This figure includes payment of Counsel who undertook the initial case review and the independent expert who then undertook the main review. It also includes the cost in obtaining the necessary transcripts of sentencing remarks for the initial case review.

Prison and Probation Service: Sick Leave

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many working days were lost as a result of work-related stress in each year since 2010 in (a) HM Prison Service and (b) the Probation Service.

Damian Hinds: The quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication covers staffing information, including the working days lost due to sickness absence.Working days lost due to work-related stress within the Prison and Probation Service since 2010 is shown in table 1 below.Table 1: Staff absences due to work-related stress in the Prison Service1 and Probation Service3,4, 12 months to 30 June 2010-20222,3.(Full time equivalent)12 months to... Prison Service1Probation Service3,4Total working days lost due to work-related stressAverage staff in postAverage working days lost per person2Total working days lost due to work-related stressAverage staff in postAverage working days lost per person230-Jun-104,15547,2270.1   30-Jun-115,92845,9660.1  30-Jun-125,38042,9670.1  30-Jun-135,76938,8940.1  30-Jun-149,27834,2970.306930.030-Jun-159,21032,3050.31958,5020.030-Jun-167,17931,3460.21268,8090.030-Jun-172,95331,1020.1358,7160.030-Jun-181,24732,8870.02049,0460.030-Jun-192,05935,7360.13209,7550.030-Jun-202,04935,7270.140110,0940.030-Jun-213,67535,5720.175211,2850.130-Jun-222,27035,8670.11,37317,4600.1 1. Includes the Youth Custody Service (YCS) which was created in April 2017 to oversee day-to-day management of the under 18s young people’s estate. The Youth Custody Estate includes the following young offender institutions: Cookham Wood, Feltham, Werrington, and Wetherby. The YCS also initially included the Medway Secure Training Centre which closed in March 2020.2. Average working days lost per member of staff is calculated as number of working days lost to sickness divided by the average number of full-time equivalent staff for a year..3. In the quarter to Dec 2019, over 300 staff in Wales were transferred from privately run Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) to HMPPS, into the new ‘NPS Wales UM Transition’ and new Approved Premises teams created.4. On 1 June 2014, the National Probation Service, which is responsible for high-risk offenders in the community, was created and staff in the NPS joined HMPPS as civil servants. In late June 2021, more than 7,000 staff from private sector Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) came together with probation staff already in the public sector to form the new Probation Service.

Treasury

Monetary Policy: Economic Situation

Dan Carden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will launch a review of the current macroeconomic and monetary policy frameworks.

Andrew Griffith: At the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor confirmed new fiscal rules which will ensure the public finances are on a stable footing in the years to come. These are: - to have public sector net debt (excluding the Bank of England) as a percentage of GDP falling by the fifth year of the rolling forecast period- to ensure public sector net borrowing does not exceed 3 percent of GDP by the fifth year of the rolling forecast period The Office for Budget Responsibility confirm we are on track to get debt falling by 2027-28 and meet all our fiscal rules. He also issued his annual remit and recommendations letters to the Bank of England’s independent Financial Policy Committee and Monetary Policy Committee. The Chancellor reconfirmed his commitment to monetary policy independence and reaffirmed the remit of the MPC. The Chancellor also stated that this government will not change the definition of price stability from 2% CPI year on year.

Economic Situation: Brexit

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU (a) on the economy and (b) per household.

Andrew Griffith: It is for the Office for Budget Responsibility to provide economic and fiscal forecasts. Global external factors, including Covid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, continue to put pressures on the UK economy. It is challenging to definitively disentangle the effect of these global factors from the longer-term impacts of EU exit on the UK economy and households.

Economic Growth: Brexit

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of the UK leaving the EU on the pace of economic growth.

Andrew Griffith: It is for the Office for Budget Responsibility to provide economic and fiscal forecasts. It is too early to establish the overall effect of EU exit on the UK economy and economic growth. Global external factors, including Covid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have made it challenging to assess the impact of EU exit and continue to add pressures to trade, prices and the wider economy. The IMF’s recent forecasts project the UK economy to the exhibit the strongest growth among G7 countries in 2022, and growth in 2023 is forecast to outpace France and Germany.

UK Trade with EU

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take to improve trade with the EU and increase tax revenues as a result.

Andrew Griffith: Following our exit from the EU, the UK Government negotiated the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), an ambitious free trade agreement which allows for zero-tariff, zero-quota trade amongst other provisions. To support businesses trading with the EU, the Government has launched an ambitious Export Strategy, as well as the new Export Support Service.

UK Trade with EU

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of (a) the cost to UK businesses of registering in the EU since the UK left the EU and (b) the cost to the Exchequer of those businesses registering in the EU.

Andrew Griffith: Following our exit from the EU, the UK Government has been monitoring developments in UK-EU trade and supporting businesses trading with the EU. This includes through the Government’s ambitious Export Strategy, as well as understanding and responding to business concerns through the new Export Support Service. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU is an ambitious free trade agreement which allows for zero-tariff, zero-quota trade amongst other provisions.

Duty Free Allowances

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of the creation of arrivals duty free stores at airports and ferry terminals across the UK to serve inbound passengers; and if he will make a statement.

James Cartlidge: Following a consultation, the Government announced on 11 September 2020 that duty-free sales on departure would be extended to EU-bound passengers for the first time in over 20 years from 1 January 2021. This is a significant boost to all airports and international rail terminals in England, Scotland and Wales, including Bournemouth, and smaller regional airports and rail hubs, which have not been able to offer duty-free to the EU before. The Government would need to consider the cost of introducing a duty-free on arrival scheme. Any new tax relief will impose additional pressure on the public finances, to which excise duty makes a significant contribution. Any loss in tax revenue would have to be balanced by a reduction in public spending, increased borrowing or increased taxation elsewhere.

Individual Savings Accounts

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the Lifetime ISA limit.

Andrew Griffith: The Lifetime ISA is intended to support younger people saving for their first home or for later life by offering a generous government bonus on up to £4,000 of savings each year. These funds, including the government bonus, can be used to purchase a first home up to the value of £450,000. The Government has no current plans to increase either the £4,000 Lifetime ISA subscription limit or the £450,000 property price cap. The Government considers that the £450,000 price cap is suitable to support most first-time buyers across the UK, who typically purchase less expensive properties than other buyers, while ensuring sustainable public finances. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that bonus payments will have an exchequer cost of over £3 billion between 2021 and 2027. The propertys price cap ensures that this significant investment of public money is more precisely targeted towards households that may find it more difficult to get onto the property ladder. However, the Government continues to keep all aspects of savings tax policy under review.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Climate Change: Finance

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the £1.5 billion increase in the UK's climate finance pledge will be allocated from previously announced funding.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: At COP27 the Prime Minister announced that the UK would increase its funding for climate adaptation to £1.5 billion in 2025. This pledge forms part of the UK's overall commitment to deliver £11.6 billion International Climate Finance.

Ministry of Defence

Ajax Vehicles: Testing

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the maximum duration that Army or MoD crews undertaking User Validation Trials are allowed to remain in the vehicles, on any Ajax family vehicle.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether (a) Army and (b) his Department's personnel who are undertaking Ajax-family User Validation Trials have to undertake neurological tests at any stage after operating Ajax vehicles.

Alex Chalk: In addition to extant Army wide driver and crew working hours controls, trial activity duration is not time bound but is carefully monitored to ensure that Army crews remain within the lower action values of the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 and the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 throughout the planned activity. User Validation Trials are conducted under a safe system of work that implements these action value controls endorsed by the Safety Assurance Panel. This includes UTAC-Millbrook providing live monitoring of crew noise and vibration exposure levels. Army crews are not required to undertake neurological tests as part of the trial protocol.

Elbit Systems UK: Contracts

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what contracts Elbit Systems UK have been awarded by his Department.

Alex Chalk: It is taking time to collate the information needed to answer the right hon. Member's question. I will write to him shortly.

Ammunition: Expenditure

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will ringfence spending on ammunition stockpiles.

Alex Chalk: Spending on ammunition stockpiles is already ringfenced by the Department.

Amey

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October to Question 67846 on Amey, how many Service Family Accommodation homes received repairs in each of the last five years.

Alex Chalk: The Department does not hold the information in the format requested and it can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Ajax Vehicles: Testing

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any Ajax-family vehicles have resumed firing trials of any kind as of 15 November 2022.

Alex Chalk: I am pleased to confirm that a series of Lethality Validation and Verification firings took place between 28 September to 8 November in support of the Ajax Programme. A total of 1,780 40mm rounds and more than 15,000 7.62mm rounds have been fired against a mixture of static and moving targets, including the Ajax vehicle firing on the move. More firing trials are planned in the coming months. I would further refer the right hon. Member to the answer my predecessor gave him on 18 October 2022 to Question Number 62725.UIN62725-Ajax (pdf, 74.7KB)

Elbit Systems UK: Trident Submarines

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2022 to Question 82206 on Elbit Systems UK: Trident Submarines, how long that contract with Elbit Systems UK was scheduled to last until.

Alex Chalk: The only contract the Ministry of Defence have for the Dreadnought Crew Training (DCT) programme is with Raytheon UK as the prime contractor, which runs from 2022 until 2029.Commercial matters relating to sub-contractors are held by the prime contractor and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment on specific contractual details.

Home Office: Written Questions

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to answer Question 79264 tabled by the hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne on 4 November 2022.

James Heappey: I responded to the right hon. Member on 17 November 2022.

Ministry of Defence: Written Questions

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he will respond to Question 80588 from the hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne tabled on 7 November 2022.

James Heappey: I responded to the right hon. Member on 15 November 2022.

Department for Work and Pensions

Carer's Allowance: Cost of Living Payments

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing Cost of Living Payments to recipients of Carer's Allowance.

Tom Pursglove: This Government recognises and values the vital contribution made by carers every day in providing significant care and continuity of support to family and friends, including pensioners and those with disabilities. Depending on personal circumstances, carers may be eligible for means-tested benefits, including Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit. Means-tested benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the Carer Element and the additional amount for carers respectively. Nearly 60% of carers on low incomes who are of working age and on Carer’s Allowance, also claim a means-tested benefit through which they may be entitled to receive a Cost of Living Payment. In addition, a non-repayable £400 discount on energy bills is available for all domestic electricity customers in Great Britain and earlier this year, a £150 non-repayable rebate in Council Tax bills benefited all households in Bands A-D in England. For those who require additional support with the cost of household essentials, we have provided an extension to the Household Support Fund in England backed by £421m, running from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. To find out more about the Government’s cost of living support, visit: Cost of Living Payment - GOV.UK

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he will publish his White Paper on the future of disability benefits.

Tom Pursglove: We published Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper last year. This asked for views on ways we can improve the experience people have of our benefits system and set out ways we could make our services easier to access, make our processes simpler and help build people’s trust. We received over 4,500 responses to the Health and Disability Green Paper consultation and are very grateful to all the individuals and organisations who contributed. We will respond with a White Paper in the coming months.

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit have been awaiting a decision for more than (a) one year and (b) six months since the date of application as of 15 November 2022; and what the average time taken was between applications and decisions on such claims in the latest period for which data is available.

Tom Pursglove: The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.Decision times for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) assessments are available on in the ‘IIDB Assessments’ dataset at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk Decision time data is recorded in working days and is available in time bands. Data is monthly and covers the period March 2017 to March 2022.

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit: Medical Examinations

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many face to face medical assessments were carried out for claims for Industrial Injuries Disability Benefit in each of the most recent 12 months for which data is available.

Tom Pursglove: The number of face-to-face assessments carried out for claims for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB), in each of the last 12 months, is shown in the table below. IIDB ClearancesNov 21Dec 21Jan  22Feb 22Mar 22Apr  22May 22Jun  22Jul  22Aug 22Sep 22Oct  22Face-to-face630630650410530420760950980130011501030 All volumes have been rounded to the nearest 10.All the above data is derived from contractual management information produced by the assessment providers or supplier. Please note: the above data is derived from unpublished management information which is collected for internal departmental use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.

Personal Independence Payment: ICT

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential cost to the public purse of delivering a digital end-to-end PIP service.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he will take to ensure PIP claimants who do not use the internet are still able to (a) apply for PIP and (b) manage their claim following the rollout of a digital end-to-end PIP service.

Tom Pursglove: The Health Transformation Programme (HTP) is modernising health and disability benefit services. It will create a more efficient service and improved claimant experience, reducing journey times and improving trust in our services and decisions. HTP will transform all aspects of the PIP service across the full claimant journey, from finding out about benefits and eligibility, through to decision and payments. HTP is one of the Government's major projects and has, therefore, been subject to appropriate scrutiny to ensure that its delivery plans are robust and that it will deliver value for money for the taxpayer. The new PIP service will introduce an option to apply for PIP online. We will be developing the service carefully and incrementally, designing it around the needs of claimants. We understand that not everyone is comfortable or able to use online services. Use of the online service will be optional, and we will continue to provide alternative routes to claim for those who are unable, or prefer not to use, the online service.

Universal Credit: Overpayments

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has taken recent steps to improve the detection of Universal Credit overpayments.

Tom Pursglove: The Government is investing £1.4billion of funding over the next three years in order to combat fraud and error, which includes a further £613 million to facilitate a number of new initiatives, which collectively will stop an estimated £2.0 billion of loss in fraud and error over the next three years. Our Fraud Plan, Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System, published on 19 May 2022, sets out our approach and explains how the additional investment is allowing us to recruit 1,400 more staff into our counter-fraud teams; establish a new 2,000-strong team dedicated to reviewing 2 million existing Universal Credit claims and develop enhanced data analytics as a means of preventing and detecting fraud and error. More information on our Fraud Plan, can be found here: Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)This builds on the existing work DWP has done to address overpayments, with savings from the correction and prevention of fraud and error totalling £2 billion last year.

Members: Correspondence

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to respond to the correspondence of 15 September, 14 October and 31 October 2022 from the hon. Member for Glasgow East, with reference DL13207 and POSCOR2022/73342.

Mims Davies: A reply was sent to the hon. Member for Glasgow East by the Department for Work and Pensions’ Director for Disability Service, Decision Making and Working Age, on behalf of the Secretary of State, on 16 November 2022.

Cost of Living Payments

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure Cost of Living Payments that fail to be automatically processed are received by eligible recipients.

Mims Davies: The vast majority of eligible households will receive their payments by the end of November. A small proportion of automated payments may fail, for example, if the customer has closed their account, but there are robust processes in place to ensure that all eligible claimants will receive their payments, with manual workarounds in place if necessary. If someone in receipt of a qualifying benefit believes they should have received a Cost of Living Payment but has not received it, it can be reported to DWP from 24 November, and for HMRC from the 30 November. Information on how to report a missing payment will be available on gov.uk.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

African Swine Fever

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the (a) Secretary of State for International Trade, (b) Minister for the Cabinet Office and (c) Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential threat posed by African Swine Fever to the British agricultural sector.

Mark Spencer: The Animal Health and Plant Agency has carried out an assessment on the risk of entry of African swine fever (ASF) into Great Britain from the EU Member States and found the overall risk to be medium. HM Government takes the threat to the UK posed by animal diseases very seriously and regularly exercises its contingency plans to ensure they are fit for purpose, including through a UK-wide exercise that simulated an outbreak of ASF in 2021.We introduced new controls on 1 September restricting the movement of pork and pork products into Great Britain to help safeguard Britain's pig population. Travellers from the EU are no longer allowed to bring pork or pork products weighing over two kilograms into GB, unless they are produced to the EU's commercial standards. More information on the new controls can be found on GOV.UK. www.gov.uk/government/news/strict-new-controls-on-pork-and-pork-products-to-protect-britains-pig-sector-against-african-swine-fever.

Poultry: Avian Influenza

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support poultry farmers affected by the 2022 outbreak of Avian Influenza.

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department have plans to provide support for poultry farms following a cull as a result of Avian Influenza.

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department are taking to improve the processing time of payments made to farms affected by Avian Influenza.

Mark Spencer: Outbreaks of avian influenza in both kept and wild birds continue to occur at an unprecedented scale across Europe and the UK with cases continuing to be confirmed into year two of the outbreak for the first time. We recognise that these outbreaks are very distressing for the individual poultry farmers that are affected. Compensation paid for birds culled by HM Government for disease control purposes is designed to promote prompt reporting of suspicion of disease and is only payable for healthy birds as set out in the Animal Health Act 1981. There is no compensation available for sick birds or birds that have died. Compensation is not paid for consequential losses, including business interruption caused by control measures, nor for eggs or poultry meat. Compensation is also not paid for other things that have to be seized because they pose a risk of transmitting disease. The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) makes its assessment of the disease status of the birds based on clinical inspection and veterinary judgment. On 28 October we announced a new package of measures to support domestic producers with the impacts of avian influenza. This included changes to the compensation scheme (effective from 1 October). Compensation will now be linked to decisions taken at the start of planned culling rather than at the end. Such that APHA’s assessment of the health of the birds to be culled will now be made shortly before the culling begins or within 48 hours of a decision to cull the birds being made whichever is shorter. This will allow us to give earlier certainty about entitlement to compensation, better reflect the impact of outbreaks on premises and lead to swifter payments to help stem any cash flow pressures. The amount of compensation is established by APHA using the relevant valuation rate card (or for specialist stock by a specialist valuer). The valuation rate cards are updated by APHA five times per year (in November, January, March, June and September) to ensure rates are in line with average market values for the types of birds. In addition, in consultation with the Food Standards Agency, an easement to marketing rules was introduced in England on 28 October. The measures mean that farmers who breed turkeys, geese, ducks or capons for their meat will have the option to slaughter birds early, and to freeze them, which can then be defrosted and sold to consumers as whole birds, stuffed crowns or 2-3 bird roasts between the period 28 November and 31 December 2022. Products will also need to be properly labelled and accompanied by in-store signage and online information for customers. This option is being introduced to give producers certainty over business planning. The Welsh Government announced a similar concession on 3 November.We produce over 11 million turkeys in the UK every year. Over the Christmas period approximately 8 million turkeys, 200,000 geese and 100,000 ducks are sold to some of the highest standards in the world. Around 50% of these are usually sold frozen. There is no immediate threat to the food supply chain as a result of the current outbreak, with the introduction of the above measure helping mitigate any potential risks to the supply of seasonal poultry products for the Christmas market.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Coronavirus

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many employees in her Department work on matters related to covid-19.

Mark Spencer: There are currently 9 employees working on matters relating to Covid-19. The Government published its Living with Covid plan in February 2022 to help and support citizens as we transition out of the pandemic.

Avian Influenza: Disease Control

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many turkeys have been culled since the outbreak of avian flu on 27 October 2021.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many geese have been culled since the outbreak of avian flu on 27 October 2021.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many ducks have been culled since the outbreak of avian flu on 27 October 2021.

Mark Spencer: To date during the avian influenza outbreak (from 26 October 2021 to the 3 November 2022), 6 million poultry or other captive birds (including chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, and other kept birds) have died or are being culled and disposed for disease control purposes (2.8 million since Oct 2022; 3.2 million birds between October 2021 and September 2022). This is a small proportion (approximately 0.6%) of overall yearly poultry production (c.20m birds slaughtered for human consumption per week).Of the total which have died or are being culled and disposed for disease control purposes during the outbreak, approximately 1,282,000 are turkeys, 679,200 ducks and 60,800 geese (equating to approximately 21%, 11% and 1% of the total birds culled respectively) (931,000 turkeys, 336,700 ducks, and 19,000 geese (equating to approximately 33%, 12% and 1% of the total birds culled respectively) since October 2022; 351,000 turkeys, 342,500 ducks and 41,800 geese (equating to approximately 11%, 11% and 1% of the total birds culled respectively) between October 2021 and September 2022).

Avian Influenza: Compensation

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the compensation offered to farmers affected by avian flu in their flocks is adequate.

Mark Spencer: Compensation, as set out in the Animal Health Act 1981, is payable for healthy birds only. There is no compensation available for sick birds or birds that have died. Compensation policy for birds culled by HM Government for disease control purposes is designed to promote prompt reporting of suspicion, as swift and humane culling of birds on infected premises coupled with good biosecurity are critical for preventing the amplification of avian influenza and subsequent environmental contamination and to reduce the risk of disease spread from infected premises.APHA makes its assessment of the disease status of the birds based on clinical inspection and veterinary judgment. Historically this assessment has been based on the actual number of birds culled rather than the number of healthy birds at the point that culling starts. The amount paid therefore depended on the evolution of the disease on site between the initial assessment of the number of healthy birds close to the start of culling less any that die between the start and end of culling.In response to feedback from industry on the impact the rapid mortality caused by the current H5N1 strain and risk that escalating cases numbers leading to substantial delays to culling can have on the amount of compensation paid, changes to the compensation scheme for avian influenza have been introduced (effective from the 1 October).Compensation will now be linked to decisions taken at the start of planned culling rather than at the end. This will allow us to give earlier certainty about entitlement to compensation, better reflect the impact of outbreaks on premises and lead to swifter payments to help stem any cash flow pressures.The amount of compensation is established by APHA using the relevant valuation rate card (or for specialist stock by a specialist valuer).Biosecurity guidance and a biosecurity self-assessment checklist have been published by HM Government to assist all bird keepers in instigating and maintaining good biosecurity.

Air Pollution: Babies

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 69799 on Air Pollution: Babies, if she will hold discussions with Cabinet colleague on the potential impacts of toxic air pollution particles on the lungs, livers and brains of unborn babies.

Rebecca Pow: The Secretary of State is working across Government to tackle air pollution and its impacts on health.

Environmental Land Management Schemes

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to help strengthen the Environmental land management schemes supporting farmers to protect and restore the environment.

Mark Spencer: Our new environmental land management schemes are designed to support farmers to protect and restore the environment and we remain committed to rolling them out, as set out in the Agricultural Transition Plan.

Fish Farming: Animal Welfare

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has plans to improve animal welfare protections for farmed fish in the UK.

Mark Spencer: The Animal Welfare Act 2006 makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to any protected animal, or to fail to provide for the welfare needs of an animal, including fish, for which that person is responsible There is also legislation on the protection of animals at the time of killing which requires that farmed fish are spared avoidable pain, distress or suffering during their killing and related operations.As part of HM Government’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare, we are considering improvements that could be made to the welfare of farmed fish at the time of killing. To inform this work, we have asked the Animal Welfare Committee for advice, and this is expected before the end of the year.

Local Government: Litter

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to introduce a legal requirement for the Office of Environmental Protection to inspect local authorities' enforcement of laws relating to littering.

Rebecca Pow: The OEP has powers that enable it to hold all public authorities to account for their implementation of any legislative provisions that fall under the definition of environmental law as set out in the Environment Act. The OEP has published its own strategy and enforcement policy, setting out how it will carry out its work within this remit.

Chemicals

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government plans to publish its Chemicals Strategy.

Rebecca Pow: We have been engaging closely with external partners over the past few months to inform policy development across a range of chemicals issues. This builds on the commitment in the 25 Year Environment Plan to set out our strategy to tackle chemicals of concern. No publication date for a Chemicals Strategy has yet been set.

Fly-tipping: Asbestos

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to introduce a minimum mandatory prison sentence for people who fly-tip items containing asbestos.

Rebecca Pow: Fly-tipping is a serious crime which can harm both the environment and human health. We are committed to tackling it and other forms of waste crime. The law already allows for prison sentences of up to five years for the most serious cases. Sentencing is however a matter for the independent courts. When deciding what sentence to impose, the court will take into account the circumstances of the offence in line with the Environmental Offences Definitive Guideline issued by the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales. In partnership with the National Fly Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG), we have recently produced a guide on how local authorities, and others, can present robust cases to court to support sentences that properly reflect the severity of fly tipping. This has been published on the NFTPG website: https://www.tacklingflytipping.com/Documents/NFTPG-Files/FlyTipping-Toolkit-Cases.pdf.

Royal Hampshire County Hospital: Accidents

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the chemical leak at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester on 7 November 7 2022.

Rebecca Pow: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of subjects, and discussions among Cabinet colleagues are considered confidential.At 17:53 on Monday 7 November 2022, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service (HIWFRS) notified the Environment Agency (EA) that they were attending Royal Hampshire County Hospital with their Environment Protection Unit, following reports of a leaking drum of potentially hazardous liquids, within the hospital. The Environmental Protection Unit is an EA and HIWFRS joint funded specialist vehicle used for incidents involved in hazardous or unknown substances.The EA assessed the incident as having minimal environmental impact and HIWFRS led the containment response.

Air Pollution

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has taken steps to facilitate cross-departmental collaboration on tackling air pollution.

Rebecca Pow: Yes, the Secretary of State is working across Government to tackle air pollution. We will shortly be publishing our response to the consultation on environmental targets, which included proposals for targets on air quality and how they will be achieved.

Air Pollution: Local Government

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of Government funding for local authorities on improving air quality.

Rebecca Pow: To enable local authorities to perform their statutory functions in local air quality management, Defra run an annual air quality grant whereby local authorities can bid for funding to take forward air quality initiatives in their area. Through this grant we have awarded more than £42 million across almost 500 projects since 2010, and this year will award at least £7m. As part of our NO2 programme, we also manage a budget of £883m, held jointly across DfT and Defra. Funding provided to local authorities is split between Implementation funding and our Clean Air Fund. To date (June 2022) the programme has spent £237m on implementation funding for air quality measures and £284m through its Clean Air Fund.

Litter: Fines

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the use of Fixed Penalty Notices imposed by local authorities for littering.

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the number of local authorities who employ private, third-party enforcement services to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for environmental crimes.

Rebecca Pow: Taking effective enforcement action is a practical step that councils can take to tackle littering. Our guidance on effective enforcement is clear that enforcement action should be proportionate and councils remain responsible for the whole enforcement process, whether it has been contracted out or not. Councils were reminded of this in a letter from a Defra minister earlier this year. The Department has not made any assessments or estimates specifically regarding the use of Fixed Penalty Notices.

Animals: Exports

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it remains the Government's policy to prohibit the live export of animals for slaughter or fattening.

Mark Spencer: Yes. We are delivering on our Manifesto commitment through the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, by banning exports of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, and equines for slaughter and fattening on journeys that begin in or transit through Great Britain to a third country. This will be done as soon as Parliamentary time allows. Exports of cattle, sheep, pigs and goats by sea to mainland Europe have not been viable since 1st January 2021, due to the lack of Border Control Post facilities designated to accept this trade in receiving EU Member States. Exports of equines have continued for the purpose of leisure, competition or breeding as there are Border Control Posts that are designated for equines.

Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will ban all per-fluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in all non-essential uses.

Rebecca Pow: Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) represent a group of thousands of chemicals, with hundreds used commercially across many sectors of industry and society. There is increasing evidence of the occurrence of PFAS in the environment and, once in the environment, PFAS are persistent. There is also growing concern regarding the risks to human health. Action has already been taken to ban or highly restrict specific PFAS both domestically and internationally, including perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). However, PFAS represent a very diverse group of chemicals with a wide range of uses for which safer and more sustainable alternatives are not yet available - making this a very challenging issue to tackle.Work is underway across government to help us assess levels of PFAS occurring in the environment, their sources and potential risks to inform future policy and regulatory approaches. In the UK REACH Work Programme for 2021-22, Defra asked the EA and HSE to examine the risks posed by PFAS and develop a 'Regulatory Management Options Analysis' (RMOA). The RMOA will be published in early 2023 and will make recommendations for risk management measures, building on the commitment in the 25 Year Environment Plan to tackle chemicals of concern. Defra and the Devolved Administrations will carefully consider its recommendations to inform future PFAS policy.

River Great Ouse: Flood Control

Iain Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the Environment Agency on the possibility of the River Great Ouse flooding in winter 2022-23.

Rebecca Pow: The Secretary of State regularly discusses a range of matters with the Environment Agency (EA). The Great Ouse river catchment area has been subject to regular flooding, with serious floods in 1912, 1947, 1953, 1998 and more recently, in 2020. The EA has worked to better protect thousands of properties from flooding in the catchment. Since 2003, the EA has invested in building and funding flood defence schemes that now better protect more than 25,000 properties across the catchment from flooding and erosion. In the last year alone, the EA has invested around £18million in flood defence schemes and assets in the Great River Ouse catchment. It operates over one thousand assets to manage water through the catchment and it offers advice to riparian property owners on their responsibilities and how to prevent blockages to rivers that could increase flood risk. For properties in areas not protected by flood defences, the EA is looking at the potential for new schemes and also other measures such as Property Flood Resilience (PFR). The risk of flooding can never be fully eliminated and it will continue to pose a threat to this region. The EA urge people to be prepared for flooding by following its ‘Prepare, Act, Survive’ guidance. The EA supports local flood action groups to help them better prepare their communities for future flood events and also provides the Flood Warning Service to provide time for people to prepare for flooding, and to protect their families and homes.

Pets: Animal Welfare

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to progress legislative proposals to promote the welfare of kept animals; and what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of making legislative provision to require visual checks on imported pets.

Mark Spencer: HM Government published its wide-reaching and ambitious Action Plan for Animal Welfare on 12 May 2021, setting out current and future work on animal welfare. Now that we have left the EU, we are making significant changes to domestic law through the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, bringing in legislation to further protect the welfare of pets, farmed and kept wild animals in Great Britain.The Kept Animals Bill was reintroduced to the House of Commons in May 2022 and will progress to Report stage as soon as parliamentary time allows. The Bill allows us further to protect the welfare of pets by introducing restrictions to crack down on the low welfare movements of pets into Great Britain and includes powers to introduce new restrictions on pet travel and the commercial import of pets on welfare grounds, via secondary legislation. We recognise there is strong support for the Bill from all sides of the House and we have been actively working with hon. Members, Peers and our partners to make sure that the reforms work effectively.We already operate one of the most rigorous and robust pet travel checking regimes in Europe. All non-commercial dogs, cats and ferrets entering Great Britain on approved routes (every route other than Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Crown Dependencies) under the Pet Travel rules undergo 100% documentary and identity checks by authorised pet checkers.The Animal and Plant Health Agency works collaboratively with Border Force and other operational partners at ports, airports and inland, sharing intelligence to enforce the Pet Travel rules, disrupt illegal imports, safeguard the welfare of animals and seize non-compliant animals.We have no plans to introduce further visual checks.

Standards: Publications

Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the content of BSI Document BS8683 is available for the public to read at no cost.

Trudy Harrison: BS8683 is the British Standard document on the process for designing and implementing Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG).It is considered best practice for BNG, but adherence to the Standard will not be a requirement for the design or delivery of mandatory biodiversity net gain.It is available for the public to purchase as a digital or hard copy from the British Standards Institution website.

Litter Innovation Fund

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding has been allocated to the Litter Innovation Fund since that fund's inception.

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to re-establish the Litter Innovation Fund on a long-term basis with annual funding grants.

Rebecca Pow: Across two rounds of the Litter Innovation Fund, a total of £215,244 was awarded to a range of projects designed to pilot and evaluate innovative new ways to tackle litter. At present, there are no plans to run any further rounds of the Litter Innovation Fund.UK Research & Innovation's Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge, which is funded by HM Government, has launched a new £2.5 million Future Plastic Packaging Solutions competition for research and innovation projects seeking grant funding from £30,000 to £250,000. In this round, UKRI is particularly interested in proposals focused on preventing, mitigating, or measuring plastic packaging litter pollution, among other things.

National Parks: Investment

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with national park authorities on private investment into English national parks.

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with which companies his Department has held discussions on private investment in national parks in England in the last 12 months.

Trudy Harrison: HMG's 25 Year Environment Plan is clear that the right mix of public and private funding and financing for projects that protect and enhance nature will be crucial to the successful delivery of our ambitious environmental policy agenda. As part of the government response to the Landscapes Review (2019), Defra is supporting protected landscapes to build capacity and create a pipeline of investment-ready nature recovery projects in protected landscapes, including through the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund.DEFRA is working with the national umbrella organisations for National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and National Parks Partnerships to support their existing collaborations with commercial partners such as Palladium under the Revere initiative.Alongside this DEFRA is also supporting local farmers through the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme. This has seen £11m in the first year of the programme invested into protected landscapes in England to support projects delivering for climate, nature, people and place.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Public Expenditure

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 November 2022 to Question 73124 on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Public Expenditure, for what reason each grant allocation was not spent in full.

Trudy Harrison: Defra and the Forestry Commission have worked fast to launch the new grant schemes in time for the 2021-22 planting season. The expenditures reflect the hectarage of trees planted and for which a claim has been submitted in that financial year. The area of trees planted is updated at quarterly intervals and published as official statistics in the Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forestry-commission-corporate-plan-performance-indicators. Projects that were planted during the winter 2021-22 but did not submit claims in time to meet the end of financial year reporting deadline, will be reported in the financial year 2022-23.

Home Office

Police: Travellers

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police forces in the UK have (a) adopted a Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community engagement strategy, (b) adopted a GRT Liaison Officer and (c) have a special point of contact for engaging with those communities.

Chris Philp: Information on the number of police forces in the UK which have adopted GRT engagement strategies, GRT liaison officers and points of contact for engagement, is not held centrally by the Home Office.It remains vital that each police force across England and Wales engages and works with their local communities including GRT groups. It is an operational matter for Chief Constables of each police force to consider how best to meet the needs of their local communities, based on their local knowledge and expertise.

Migrant Help

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the contract his Department awarded to Migrant Help to provide assistance to those seeking asylum, (a) how many cases have been referred to Migrant Help by the Home Office, and (b) how many replies have been received from Migrant Help within the target response time.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Migrant Help: Members

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, where Migrant Help are contracted by her Department to provide assistance to those seeking asylum, what steps her Department is taking to ensure hon. Members receive prompt responses to constituent queries in relation to that service.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Asylum: Domestic Abuse

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of times an asylum seeker who is a victim of domestic violence has lost access to financial support when the abusive partner, as the main applicant on their asylum claim, was moved from their shared premises in the latest period for which data is available; and if her Department will take steps to tackle this issue.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Immigration: ICT

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what date the Atlas casework system to become operational.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Asylum: Hotels

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of using of hotels used by York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust staff as temporary accommodation for people seeking asylum on community tensions.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Asylum: Hotels

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any NHS staff have been displaced due to the use of hotel rooms in York as temporary accommodation asylum seekers.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Asylum: Hotels

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with representatives from York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on hotel rooms used by NHS staff before signing contracts to use hotels in York for asylum seekers.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Asylum: Hotels

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of signing contracts to use hotels to house asylum seekers on the existing residents of those hotels.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Detention Centres: Manston

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much the operation of the Manston immigration facility has cost the Government each month in 2022.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Detention Centres: Manston

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2022 to Question 77331 on Detention Centres: Manston, what (a) qualifies as an exceptional circumstance and (b) is the maximum period of time she can extend the detention of a person in a holding room for.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Visas: National Security

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people with Tier 1 Investor visas and who have been identified by the Government as a possible national security risk have been granted (a) indefinite leave to remain and (b) UK citizenship.

Robert Jenrick: We will not be commenting on matters of national security. As the Government has set out, we will provide a summary of the findings of the Tier 1 Investor historic review in due course.

Refugees: Hotels

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will list the names of hotels in Hammersmith constituency that have contractual agreements with the Home Office to house refugees; how many refugees are currently housed in hotels in Hammersmith constituency; and what is the average length of time for a refugee to be placed in a hotel.

Robert Jenrick: For the safety, security and wellbeing of those we house we do not publicly disclose the names of individual hotels which may or may not be utilised. There are currently 2 Asylum support hotels in use in Hammersmith constituency, these hotels are being used to house people seeking asylum. As of 14 November, there were 90 occupants in these hotels. The average length of stay in our contingency hotels is 6 to 12 months due to the current accommodation and capacity challenges. With regards to refugees, there is 1 hotel in the Hammersmith constituency and there are currently 146 occupants in the hotel.

Slavery

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2022 to Question 80727 on Slavery, if she will publish a list of the National Referral Mechanism first responder agencies which referred people who were found to be exploiting the modern slavery system in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022 as of 7 November 2022; and how many of those cases were brought by each National Referral Mechanism first responder agency.

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is her Department's target timescale for making a Conclusive Grounds decision in the National Referral Mechanism; and what is the current average wait time for a victim of modern slavery to be given a conclusive grounds decision following a Reasonable Grounds decision.

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is her Department's target timescale for making a Reasonable Grounds decision in the National Referral Mechanism; and what is the current average wait time for a victim of modern slavery to be given a Reasonable Grounds decision.

Miss Sarah Dines: The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics regarding the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). These include the average time taken to make a Conclusive Grounds Decision. The latest published NRM statistics can be found here:National Referral Mechanism statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).As outlined in the Modern Slavery: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales (under s49 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015) and Non-Statutory Guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland, the expectation is that the Competent Authority will make a Reasonable Grounds decision within five working days, where possible, of the NRM referral being received. There is no target to make a Conclusive Grounds decision within a specific timeframe. A decision can only be made fairly and reasonably once sufficient information has been made available to the Competent Authority for it to complete the decision. When the relevant Competent Authority has received sufficient information for it to complete a decision it should seek to do so as soon as possible but only once a minimum Recovery and Reflection Period has passed, unless the relevant Competent Authority has received a request to delay the decision. The Recovery and Reflection period begins when the relevant competent authority makes a positive Reasonable Grounds decision.Modern Slavery: statutory guidance for England and Wales (under s49 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015) and non-statutory guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland (accessible version) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Immigration: China and Hong Kong

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 76003 on China: Police Stations, what steps her Department is taking to protect the welfare of the Chinese and Hong Kong diaspora in the UK.

Tom Tugendhat: As I stated to the House on 1 November, the Home Office works closely with Departments across Whitehall and with devolved Administrations to ensure that our national security is protected and that, in particular, those who have chosen to settle here are free to engage in our democratic society without fear of the regimes that they have tried to leave behind.Through our excellent police forces and the agencies that work with them, we take a proactive approach to protecting individuals and communities from all manner of threats. Where we identify individuals who may be at heightened risk, we are front-footed in deploying protective security guidance and other measures where necessary.The upcoming National Security Bill will strengthen our legal powers to deal with transnational repression. Coercion, harassment or intimidation linked to a foreign power that interfere with the freedoms of individuals will be criminalised under the new foreign interference offence in the Bill.As I stated to the House on 1 November, I have asked officials to step up the work to ensure that our approach to transnational repression is robust, and I have asked our Department to review our approach to transnational repression as a matter of urgency. I will provide an update on that work to the House in due course.

Home Office: Vivastreet

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2022 to Question 72950 on Home Office: Vivastreet, how many times (a) officials and (b) Ministers from her Department met representatives of the website company Adultwork, (i) online or (ii) in person in each calendar year since 2017.

Chris Philp: The Home Office and law enforcement partners maintain a collaborative working relationship with online companies, including Vivastreet and Adultwork, to identify and put in place initiatives to remove content and prevent and disrupt sexual exploitation on websites. The Home Office does not intend to publish information from meetings with these online companies as this could undermine future policy development.Further information about the Government’s work to tackle modern slavery, including with online companies can be found in the UK Modern Slavery Annual Reports between 2017 and 2021. The reports are available at Gov.uk.2017 2017_uk_annual_report_on_modern_slavery.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)2020 2020 UK annual report on modern slavery (publishing.service.gov.uk)2021 2021 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery (publishing.service.gov.uk)Since 2017, Home Office officials and law enforcement partners, including the National Crime Agency met with representatives of Adultwork, online, on the following occasions during each calendar year:YearMeetings201702018320191202012021020220Total5 Home Office Ministers have not met with representatives from Adultwork.

Home Office: Vivastreet

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2022 to Question 72950 on Home Office: Vivastreet, if she will publish the agendas, minutes and accompanying meeting papers from all meetings that officials in her Department have had with Vivastreet since 2017.

Chris Philp: The Home Office and law enforcement partners maintain a collaborative working relationship with online companies, including Vivastreet and Adultwork, to identify and put in place initiatives to remove content and prevent and disrupt sexual exploitation on websites. The Home Office does not intend to publish information from meetings with these online companies as this could undermine future policy development.Further information about the Government’s work to tackle modern slavery, including with online companies can be found in the UK Modern Slavery Annual Reports between 2017 and 2021. The reports are available at Gov.uk.2017 2017_uk_annual_report_on_modern_slavery.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)2020 2020 UK annual report on modern slavery (publishing.service.gov.uk)2021 2021 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery (publishing.service.gov.uk)Since 2017, Home Office officials and law enforcement partners, including the National Crime Agency met with representatives of Adultwork, online, on the following occasions during each calendar year: YearMeetings201702018320191202012021020220Total5Home Office Ministers have not met with representatives from Adultwork.

Members: Correspondence

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the email of 5 October 2022 from the hon. Member for Liverpool Walton, relating to Haleema Shafique.

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the email of 5 October 2022 sent to the urgent queries inbox from the hon. Member for Liverpool Walton on Hussain Ali.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office responded on 15 November 2022.

Homes for Ukraine Scheme

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2022 to Question 61080 on Homes for Ukraine Scheme, for what reason the information requested is not published.

Robert Jenrick: The ambition is to process Ukraine Scheme applications within 48 hours, but this is not a formal or published agreed Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the women detained at Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre in July and August 2022, how many women were (a) foreign national criminals released from prison, (b) asylum seekers whose claims were ongoing and (c) women who had overstayed their visa.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office publishes data on people in detention on the last day of each quarter in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’, as well as data on people entering and leaving detention during each quarter. The latest data relate to the end of June 2022.Data on people in detention are published in table Det_D02 of the ‘Detention detailed tables’, where the data can be broken down by current place of detention (including Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre), and sex.Data on people in detention broken down by asylum and non-asylum related detainees are published in table Det_01 of the ‘Detention summary tables’.Data on those in detention relate to those in detention on the last day of the quarter and are therefore subject to daily fluctuations and can depend on how many people entered detention just before the end of the period.

Asylum: Iran

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to provide safe routes of asylum for protestors from Iran whose lives are at risk of violence perpetrated by authorities in that country.

Robert Jenrick: The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it and our resettlement schemes enable us to give the opportunity of a new start to those who have been forced to flee their homes.We continue to provide and maintain well-defined safe and legal routes for refugees and vulnerable people in need of resettlement. Those fleeing Iran may be eligible for resettlement to the UK through the existing UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship and Mandate resettlement scheme.

Visas

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who entered the UK on a Tier 1 Investor Visa between 30 June 2008 and 6 April 2015 have been granted (a) indefinite leave to remain and (b) British citizenship.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office publishes latest data on visas at ‘Immigration statistics data tables, year ending June 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)’. Data on the number of Tier 1 Investor visas granted are published in tables at Data_Vis_D02 of the entry clearance visas applications and outcomes(opens in a new tab) dataset.

Visas: Overseas Students

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the number of authorised work hours for student visas.

Robert Jenrick: The Student route is for international students who wish to study in the UK and is not designed as a means to live and work in the UK.Student visa holders who are studying a full-time course of study, at degree level or above, at a higher education provider with a track record of compliance are already able to work up to 20 hours per week during term-time and full-time during vacation periods.

Police

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers there were in (a) Cleveland and (b) the UK on 1 May of each year since 2010.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officer vacancies there were in (a) Cleveland and (b) the UK on 1 May of each year since 2010.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police community support officers there were in (a) Cleveland and (b) the UK on 1 May of each year since 2010.

Chris Philp: The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales on a biannual basis in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, available here: Police workforce England and Wales statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).Information on the number of police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in England and Wales broken by Police Force Area (PFA) as at the 31st March each year since 2007 can be found in the ‘Police Workforce Open Data Table’ available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-open-data-tables.While the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin remains the key measure of the size of the police workforce, as part of the Police Officer Uplift Programme, the Home Office also publishes a quarterly update on the number of officers (headcount terms only) in England and Wales, broken down by PFA. Data are available here: Police Officer uplift statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).The Home Office does not hold information on the number of police vacancies in England and Wales.

Elections: Proof of Identity

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent estimate of the time it would take HM Passport Office to return passports to people who would need them as voter ID in the event of an election; and if she will make a statement.

Robert Jenrick: While the standard passport application service does not have a guaranteed timeframe, the vast majority of passports are issued within the published processed times. Where a customer requests in writing the return of supporting documents prior to the checks being completed upon an application, HM Passport Office will endeavour to return these as quickly as possible. However, HM Passport Office does reserve the right to request that these documents be resubmitted to enable it to complete its checks, and may result in the application taking longer.

Home Office: Written Questions

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to reply to Questions (a) 75827, (b) 77303 and (c) 75828 on Detention Centres: Manston tabled by the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North on 1 November 2022.

Robert Jenrick: a) 75827 – Answered on 16 November 2022.b) 77303 – I assume this is referring to Question 77330. Answered on 16 November 2022.c) 75828 – Answered on 17 November 2022.

UK Border Force: Patrol Craft

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the announcement of the joint UK-France arrangement on tackling small boat crossings in the Channel will affect the proposed (a) timing, (b) funding and (c) scale of her Department's plan to purchase like-for-like replacements for the Border Force's existing fleets of (i) five cutters and (ii) six coastal patrol vessels.

Robert Jenrick: We do not believe the Joint UK-France announcement will affect the timing, funding and scale of the Department’s plans to deliver a future proofed replacement capability for the Border Force’s existing Fleet.

Asylum: Applications

Selaine Saxby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in her Department work on processing asylum cases.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office currently employs circa c. 1176 asylum decision makers. There are recruitment strategies in place, with the aim of increasing staffing and reducing the number of cases awaiting a decision and increasing outputs.

Agriculture: Seasonal Workers

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what provisions are in place for workers on the agricultural Seasonal Workers visa to be able to access information about their employment rights in the UK; and where Seasonal workers rights are infringed, what steps her Department is taking to help workers access compensation in a timely manner.

Robert Jenrick: The Seasonal Worker is an ‘operator led’ immigration route, with scheme operators selected to manage the placement of workers on UK farms and to ensure their welfare in the UK.Scheme operators are responsible for managing all aspects of the recruitment and placement of workers on UK farms. This includes ensuring that workers are aware of their employment rights.The Home Office and Defra maintain regular contact with scheme operators to ensure that they adhere to the stringent requirements set for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the seasonal workers. The operators of the scheme are, and must remain, licensed by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).Seasonal workers receive the same protections under UK law as resident workers, including employment laws.

Home Office: Coronavirus

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many employees in her Department work on matters related to covid-19.

Chris Philp: The Home Office no longer actively monitor staff deployment for Covid-19, the number of staff members where their role is wholly or in part related to Covid-19 can only be retrieved by disproportionate effort.However, the Department’s response to the Covid-19 Inquiry has a total of 7 (6.6FTE) employees.

Members: Correspondence

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to correspondence sent by email on 20 September 2022 and on 24 October 2022 from the hon. Member for Glasgow East, case reference DL13266.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office replied on 16 November 2022.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in the period from 1 January 2021 to 7 November 2022, what percentage of applications for EU Settlement Scheme Administrative Review did not receive a decision within 12 months.

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of EU Settlement Scheme Administrative Review applications which were outstanding as of 8 November 2022 have waited more than 12 months for a decision to be reached.

Robert Jenrick: This information is not routinely published.

Members: Correspondence

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to correspondence sent by email on 7 September 2022 and on 13 October 2022 from the hon. Member for Glasgow East, case reference DL11445.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office replied on 16 November 2022.

Members: Correspondence

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to respond to the correspondence sent by email on 2 September 2022 and again by email on 4 October, from the hon. Member for Glasgow East, with reference DL13091.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office replied on 17 November 2022.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Redundancy Pay

Christine Jardine: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the cost to the public purse has been of Ministerial severance pay in his Department in each year since 1 January 2016.

Dehenna Davison: Details of such payments are published in departmental annual reports and accounts, and ministerial salaries are published here.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Coronavirus

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many employees in his Department work on matters related to covid-19.

Dehenna Davison: As of 17 November 2022, the Department has 39.7 FTE officials working on supporting the inquiry into Covid-19. Other officials may work on covid-related matters.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Redundancy

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November to Question 77346 on Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Redundancy Pay, how many special advisers working in his Department had their employment terminated, after their appointing minister ceased to hold office, from 29 June to 9 November 2022; at what pay band each was employed; and whether each had been in post for (a) 0-3 months, (b) 3-6 months, (c) 6-12 months or (d) more than 12 months.

Dehenna Davison: Information on Special Adviser numbers and costs, including pay bands, is published annually as per the requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.

Delivery Services: Coronavirus

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the extended delivery hours for supermarkets and other food retailers implemented during the covid-19 pandemic are still in place; and whether his Department plans to reinstate the overnight delivery restrictions which were in place before 9 March 2020.

Lucy Frazer: The Government issued a series of Written Ministerial Statements encouraging local planning authorities to take a measured approach to enforcement against breaches of certain planning conditions, including those governing delivery times. The latest of these expired in September 2022. We will keep the issue under review and my hon. Friend is welcome to write to me with information he considers relevant on this matter.

Park Homes: Sales

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of implementing the recommendations of the Mobile homes: The impact of a change in the maximum park home sale commission report, published on 16 June 2022.

Lucy Frazer: The government commissioned a report looking at the issue and we are grateful to the authors. Ministers are actively considering this complex issue. We will publish a response in due course. We are committed to reforming the sector to deliver better value and security for residents.

Leasehold

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress his Department has made on bringing forward legislative proposals to abolish marriage value.

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to allow leaseholders to extend their leases by 999 years.

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress his Department has made on bringing forward legislative proposals to reduce ground rent to less than a peppercorn.

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress his Department has made on bringing forward legislative proposals to change the valuation process of extending a lease so that landlords can only charge a nominal amount.

Lucy Frazer: The Government has committed to making enfranchisement cheaper for leaseholders by reforming the process of valuation they must follow to calculate the cost of extending their lease or buying their freehold. We will abolish marriage value, cap ground rents in the calculation, prescribe the rates to be used and introduce an online calculator.Leaseholders will be able to extend their lease with zero ground rent on payment of a premium. The length of a statutory lease extension will increase to 990 years, from 90 years (for flats) and 50 years (for houses).The Government has already legislated via the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 to protect future leaseholders. The Act will mean that if any ground rent is demanded as part of a new residential long lease, it cannot be for more than one literal peppercorn per year.We understand the difficulties some existing leaseholders face with high and escalating ground rents. This is why we asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms in the leasehold sector, which has resulted in commitments benefitting over 20,000 leaseholders. The CMA continue to engage with a number of firms and we urge other developers to follow suit.We have been clear about our commitment to addressing the historic imbalance in the leasehold system. We are due to bring forward further leasehold reforms later in this Parliament.

Help to Buy Scheme: Staff

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions his Department has had with Homes England on any intention to make staff in the Help to Buy unit of the Investments Directorate compulsorily redundant.

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has approved the compulsory redundancies of staff in the Help to Buy Unit of the Investments Directorate at Homes England.

Lucy Frazer: In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed. The Department has not approved a business case from Homes England on any planned exit scheme.

Housing: Older People

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of implementing the recommendations of the Mayhew Review on future-proofing retirement living.

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to increase the supply of older people’s housing.

Lucy Frazer: My department works closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to provide capital funding to incentivise supply. This includes my department's £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme which includes delivery within the programme for new supported housing for older, disabled and other vulnerable people.DHSC's Adult Social Care Reform White Paper reiterated the Government's commitment to the important role of supported housing. This included the continuation of the Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) Fund.In February 2022, the Levelling Up White Paper announced a taskforce on older people's housing to explore how we can improve the choice of and access to housing options for older people. We continue to work in partnership with DHSC colleagues and with housing, health and social care stakeholders to look at how we can further support the growth of a thriving older people's housing sector.We note the recommendations in Professor Mayhew's recent review alongside contributions from other stakeholders.I would be happy to meet with my Rt. Hon. Friend to discuss this important issue.

Social Rented Housing: Waiting Lists

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many local authorities have introduced more stringent eligibility criteria for housing waiting lists across England.

Lucy Frazer: The department does not hold the information requested. Since 2012, authorities have had the freedom to manage their own waiting lists and to determine who qualifies for social housing in their district.

Members: Correspondence

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to respond to the letter of 14 September 2022 from the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich on Retail Price Index linked increases to ground rent.

Lucy Frazer: A response was issued to the Hon. Member's letter on 17 November 2022.

Veterans: Repossession Orders

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 26 October to Question 68037 on Veterans: Repossession Orders, what information his Department holds on how many people took up new social housing lettings in the year 2020-21.

Felicity Buchan: CORE Social Housing Lettings data provides information on new social housing lettings in England and the published statistics on social housing lettings between April 2020 and March 2021 can be found here.

Capital Investment: Expenditure

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much his Department has spent on (a) establishing and (b) managing the application process for investment zones since the announcement of that policy.

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many people in his Department at each civil service grade have worked on the application process for investment zones since the announcement of that policy.

Lee Rowley: Further to the announcement made at Autumn Statement, policy development and application process work was delivered by existing civil servants as part of their usual work in the department. Both my predecessor and I make best use of our officials within the parameters set by our budget settlement. Details are published annually in departmental accounts.

Local Government Finance

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to help financially support councils using reserves to cover shortfalls in spending.

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of councils using all of their reserves to balance their budgets on their (a) short and (b) medium-term financial sustainability.

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support is available to councils who inform his Department that they face significant financial shortfalls.

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department provides guidance to local authorities on which services to prioritise when services need to be reduced or removed due to financial shortfalls.

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will increase funding for local government.

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make a comparative assessment of the total amount of funding available to local councils in England in Financial Year 2023-24 and the amount needed to meet their existing commitments; and if he will take steps to provide more funding for councils.

Lee Rowley: The Local Government Finance Settlement makes available £54.1 billion of taxpayer subsidy in 2022/23 for local government in England, an increase of up to £3.7 billion on 2021/22, including, over £1 billion specifically for councils to meet social care pressures.Further announcements will be made on the proposed local Government finance settlement in the coming weeks ahead.  We are working closely with the sector, as we always do, to monitor the impact on service delivery and budgets.

Fuel Poverty: Government Assistance

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of warm spaces made available in (a) Lewisham East constituency and (b) the UK since 1 September 2022.

Lee Rowley: The department does not hold the information requested. The Local Government Financial Settlement for 2022/ 2023 makes available an extra £3.7 billion of taxpayer subsidy to councils in England, the majority of which is un-ringfenced, recognising that local authorities are best placed to make decisions on funding for local priorities.

Housing: Fire Prevention

James Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he or his officials will meet with leaseholders at Bridgepoint House, Greenford, to advise them on how the Building Safety Act 2022 applies to the fire safety remediation works in their building.

Lee Rowley: I am sorry to hear about the difficulties your constituents in Bridgepoint House, Greenford, are experiencing in relation to the safety of their building. My officials will engage with leaseholders in Bridgepoint House to further understand the issues they face.

Levelling Up Fund

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much and what proportion of the Levelling Up Fund has been spent in each financial year since that fund was launched.

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much and what proportion of the funding allocated in the first round of the Levelling Up Fund has been distributed to successful bidders as of 15 November 2022.

Dehenna Davison: Details on LUF that has been spent or is forecast for spend are available here. We will announce details of the second round of the Fund by the end of the year.

Levelling Up Fund: Applications

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has put in place a process to provide feedback to unsuccessful applicants to the Levelling Up Fund.

Dehenna Davison: The published Levelling Up Fund technical note states that we will provide feedback on unsuccessful bids to round 2 of the Fund once the outcome of this round of funding has been announced.

Cabinet Office

Prime Minister: Shell

Angela Rayner: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the minutes of the meeting of the then Prime Minister with Shell plc on 5 May 2022 as listed in the Ministerial Transparency returns.

Jeremy Quin: On 5 May, my Rt Hon Friend (the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip) attended a meeting of the Prime Minister’s Business Council in Downing Street. Following the Roundtable a short meeting took place between my Rt Hon Friend and the CEO of Shell who was also in attendance at the Roundtable. The record of the discussion is as follows:The PM and Ben van Beurden discussed the global energy market and Shell’s investments in the UK.

Hugh Powell

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason Hugh Powell was appointed to help conduct the Heywood Review in 2014; what role Mr Powell had in the conduct of that Review; and what steps were taken to ensure that no conflict of interest affected, or might be seen to affect, the conduct or findings of that review.

Jeremy Quin: His Majesty’s Government acknowledges the strength of feeling regarding the events of 1984.In 2014, the then Cabinet Secretary, the late Lord Heywood of Whitehall, commissioned Hugh Powell as Deputy National Security Adviser to coordinate a team of Whitehall officials to establish the extent of British involvement in the Indian Army’s operation at Sri Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar in 1984. Mr Powell coordinated the review but the evidence was gathered and analysed by officials from the Cabinet Office, the FCDO, the MoD and other government agencies. Had officials discovered evidence of a conflict of interest in the course of the investigation, Mr Powell would have been invited to recuse himself from the review. No such action was required.The civil servants who worked on the Review were bound by the same standards of integrity, honesty, impartiality and objectivity, set out in the Civil Service Code that apply to all civil servants.

Cabinet Office: Coronavirus

Philip Davies: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many employees in his Department work on matters related to covid-19.

Jeremy Quin: There are 27 full time employees in one business unit currently working on the Government’s response to the Covid-19 Inquiry. There are no other business units in the Cabinet Office that are dedicated to COVID-19. Roles are not recorded at an individual level.

Department for International Trade

Foreign investment in UK: USA

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her speech on 14 November 2022 to the Cato Institute in Washington DC, what was the source for her statement that the current amount of investment by US businesses into the UK economy is higher than the annual gross domestic product of Sweden.

Nigel Huddleston: The Department for International Trade has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Arts: Advertising

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential importance of the advertising sector for the creative industries.

Paul Scully: Advertising is a thriving sector that makes a significant and valuable contribution to the UK economy and creative industries. It is a key revenue source for many creative industries, underpinning the provision of key services that are positively transforming people’s lives. The Advertising and marketing sub-sector contributed £5.1 billion to UK exports in services worldwide in 2020. This was a 27.3% increase from the previous year. The UK is second in Portland’s Soft Power Index and the advertising sector plays a leading role in this ranking. The creative industries provide a distinctive image of our country and our cities, helping them to stand out from competitors. As a home to some of the most influential international advertising agencies, the UK advertising sector makes a significant contribution to the country’s soft power by creating awareness of, and familiarity surrounding, the nation’s products, services, cultural outputs and distinctive image abroad.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Civil Servants

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the civil service headcount for their Department was on (a) 15 November 2022 and (b) 1 February 2020.

Julia Lopez: The civil service headcount in DCMS was as follows:1959 total headcount; 1924.7 FTE (with BDUK); 1747 total headcount; 1714.9 FTE (without BDUK); and1276 total headcount; 1245 FTE.National Statistics on Civil Service employment numbers, both overall and by department, are published each quarter by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of their Public Sector Employment statistical release. The latest figures were published 13 September 2022 and showed the position as at 30 June 2022. The next figures will be published 13 December for the end of September position.More timely workforce information is also published by departments in the interests of transparency on GOV.UK each month. This monthly workforce management information (MWMI) includes additional breakdowns on department and agency employment numbers e.g. showing contingent labour, grade breakdowns and associated costs.

Future of Women's Football Review: Civil Servants

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 18 October 2022 to Question 59875 on Future of Women's Football Review: Civil Servants, how many civil servants from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have been allocated to the Secretariat for the Women's Football Review.

Stuart Andrew: The Chair of the Independent Review of the Future of Women's Football is being supported by a Secretariat of officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and with some support from the Football Association and additional resources as appropriate.While team level workforce data is not published, departmental level headcounts can be reviewed as part of national statistics on Civil Service employment numbers. These are published each quarter by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of their Public Sector Employment statistical release. The latest figures were published 13 September 2022 and showed the position as at 30 June 2022. The next figures will be published 13 December for the end of September position.More timely workforce information is also published by departments in the interests of transparency on GOV.UK each month. This monthly workforce management information (MWMI) includes additional breakdowns on department and agency employment numbers e.g. showing contingent labour, grade breakdowns and associated costs.

Dormant Assets Scheme

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timetable is for the Department's response to the consultation on the English portion of dormant assets funding.

Stuart Andrew: The consultation on the English portion of dormant assets funding closed on Sunday 9 October and received over 3,300 responses.The consultation has enabled the public, civil society sector, and the Dormant Assets Scheme’s voluntary industry participants to have their say in how funds are spent in England.The Government is considering all responses and plans to publish a response in early 2023 setting out the future social and/or environmental purposes of the English portion.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Coronavirus

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many employees in her Department work on matters related to covid-19.

Julia Lopez: DCMS currently has 6 FTE working on engagement with the Covid Public Inquiry. There will be a number of staff working for varying proportions of their time on matters relating to Covid-19 such as evaluating support provided during the pandemic but we do not track this information centrally.

Sustainability of the Press Review: Local Press

Jamie Stone: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Cairncross Review, what steps her Department is taking to support local journalism.

Julia Lopez: The Government is committed to supporting local and regional newspapers as vital pillars of communities and local democracy. They play an essential role in holding power to account, keeping the public informed of local issues and providing reliable, high-quality information.However, as the independent Cairncross Review into the future of journalism identified, society is increasingly moving online and local news publishers are facing significant challenges in transitioning to sustainable digital business models.The Government supported the majority of Cairncross recommendations and has taken them forward through a range of fiscal and regulatory interventions. This has included through the extension of business rates relief for local newspapers in England for an additional five years; the investment of £2 million in the Future News Fund; the zero-rating of VAT on e-newspapers; the 2021 publication of an Online Media Literacy Strategy; and our work through the Mid Term Review of the BBC Charter, exploring how the BBC seeks to act as a complement, rather than a substitute for, local commercial news outlets. The Government was also pleased to see the BBC conduct a thorough review of the Local Democracy Reporting Service in 2020, as recommended by the Cairncross Review. As set out in our response to the Review, we would support any efforts by the BBC to grow the scheme.Most importantly, we are introducing a new, pro-competition regime for digital markets. The regime, which aims to address the far-reaching power of the biggest tech firms, will help rebalance the relationship between publishers and the online platforms on which they increasingly rely. This will make an important contribution to the sustainability of the press.Longer term and beyond Cairncross, we continue to consider all possible options in the interests of promoting and sustaining the sector.

House of Commons Commission

Speaker's Counsel: Operating Costs

Mr David Jones: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, what the cost of operating the Office of Speaker’s Counsel was in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Sir Charles Walker: The spend on the Office of Speaker’s Counsel for the financial year 2021/22 was £1.85m. The Office of Speaker’s Counsel provides legal advice to the Speaker, the Clerk and all departments of the House of Commons, as well as managing all litigation involving the Commission, the Corporate Officer or the Speaker. It also provides advice to Select Committees of the House.

Prime Minister

Jagtar Singh Johal

Catherine West: To ask the Prime Minister, whether he raised the case of Jagtar Singh Johal during his meeting with Prime Minister of India at the G20 conference on 15 November 2022.

Rishi Sunak: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Glasgow Central during my statement on the G20 on 17 November 2022, Official Report, Column 839.